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NOIDA: In yet another brutal assault on a girl in a moving car, a 17-year-old class X student of a city public school was allegedly gangraped by five of her neighbours as they drove around Noida in their i10, police said.

As shocking as the rape, which took place on Friday night, was the appalling behaviour of the city police. They not only let out personal details about the minor victim at a press conference on Sunday, but also made tactless remarks about her character, declaring that she had been "willingly drinking vodka" with the boys to celebrate a birthday.

Four of the accused, identified as Himanshu Sharma, Rahul Arya, Sunil Singh, and Saurabh Chauhan, have been arrested while a fifth, Neeraj Singh, is absconding. All accused are 20 years old.

The incident took place around 8pm on February 24 when the five met the victim near Priyadarshini Park in sector 12 and requested her to join them for the birthday celebrations of Rahul.

"They all went to a lodge in sector 53 for drinks after which the accused forced the girl into the car belonging to Chauhan. Inside, she was repeatedly raped by the five men while the car was being driven around the city," said Anant Dev Tiwari, SP City, Noida Police.

According to the police, the girl was then dumped outside Priyadarshini Park at around 9pm. The victim told TOI the accused threatened her not to report the crime. She said she went to a friend’s house in the vicinity. The friend’s mother, on seeing the girl’s condition, called up her family.

The shocked parents then approached the police, who took her to the district hospital for a medical examination, which confirmed rape, police said.

"A case under relevant sections of IPC was registered and investigations initiated. We were able to arrest four of the accused, while the fifth will be caught soon," said Tiwari.

Police said the victim had known the accused for the past few months. In another shocking revelation, the victim told TOI that the same men had raped her on May 24 last year. There was no independent corroboration of this charge.

The victim lives with her parents and infant brother in Noida. Among the accused, Rahul Arya is an employee of a private city mall and Himanshu Sharma a student of ICWA in Delhi. Saurabh Chauhan owns an auto-parts dealership in the city, Sunil Singh is a mass-communication student while Neeraj Singh is studying management in Greater Noida.