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An 18-year-old Dalit girl from the southern Indian state of Kerala has accused 64 men of abusing her since she was 13 years old.
The police have arrested 28 people in the case so far – these people are in prison and have not spoken publicly.
The accused, aged between 17 and 47, are the woman’s neighbours, sports teachers and friends of her father, police told the BBC.
The woman described being abused when a group of counselors working under the government policy went to her home.
The police have registered about 18 cases under various criminal laws in India and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act – which is a law that prohibits crimes against lower castes and tribes in India.
Dalits belong to the Hindu caste and are highly discriminated against in India despite laws to protect them.
Cases were also registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, as the abuse took place when the woman was a child, police chief Nandakumar S told BBC Hindi.
More charges are expected to be filed in the coming days as police continue to investigate the matter. A group of 25 people has been established.
Police said the abuse began when the girl was 13. A neighbor allegedly molested her and took pornographic pictures of her, the News Minute website reported.
A neighbor says he abused her again when she was 16 years old, recorded videos of the abuse and shared it with several others who continued to beat the woman over the years.
A lawyer who heads the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in the state told the Indian Express that the woman is a sportsperson and attends various sports camps which could have led to further abuse.
The police said that the woman was kidnapped three times in the last five years.
She says her abusers used her father’s phone number to contact her and the woman saved their phone numbers. The police are now using the phone to find the accused.
The woman’s family says they did not know about the abuse.
The matter came to light when a team of counselors visited the woman’s home last month. The counselors informed the CWC about the matter and the woman was asked to appear before the committee along with her mother.
“She was counselled, and she opened up before a psychologist, explaining the sexual abuse she has been facing since she was 13,” a CWC official told the Indian Express.
He added that the woman has been shifted to a CWC-affiliated shelter for her protection.
The woman’s claims have caused confusion across the country. He is expected to give a detailed account of the alleged abuse of a female police officer.
Additional reporting by Imran Qureshi, BBC Hindi
