INDIA was back into the headlines for the wrong reason on Thursday (23) when police in Thane district of the western state of Maharashtra said a teenage girl was allegedly gangraped by as many as 24 people, including two minors, in different areas of the district.
While 22 were arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the 15-year-old girl, the two minors were detained. Additional commissioner of police of Kalyan district Dattatray Karale told The Indian Express newspaper that all the arrested were produced in the local court to seek remand.
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The police said the girl, a student of standard nine, was allegedly raped in January by one of her friends – a minor. They also said the accused allegedly recorded the act on his mobile phone and started blackmailing her. Later, his friends were also accused of raping her at several locations like Badlapur, Murbad, Rabale, etc., the police added.
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The girl named a total of 33 people in the complaint and the police are in the lookout for the rest. All the accused are aged between 16 and 23.
The girl’s father is a labourer by profession.
The first information report was registered on Wednesday (22) under sections 376 (rape), 376 (n) (repeated rape), 376 (d) (gang-rape), 376 (3) (rape on a woman under sixteen years of age) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Karale said.
This photograph taken on April 28, 2026 shows a boy getting "thali", a sacred thread tied to his neck symbolising marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom.Getty Images
This photograph taken on April 29, 2026 shows a member of the transgender community mourning as a priest cuts the "thali", a sacred thread symbolising end of her marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom. Getty Images