Minor girl allegedly raped at gunpoint in front of her mother and brother in India's Madhya Pradesh

Police in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh arrested three men on Sunday (3 September) for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl at gunpoint in front of her mother and brother.

Police said the incident took place in the early hours of Wednesday (30 August) in Gwalior city.

Three men barged into the victim's house in the night, two of whom held the mother and the teenage brother at gunpoint while the third sexually molested the girl, police told the Press Trust of India.

The accused who raped the minor girl was identified as Jhanwar Singh Kushwaha, 36. His two accomplices were identified as Raju Kushwaha, 25, and Ramniwas Kushwah, 24.

Further details about the accused and the motive behind the crime was not immediately known. Police said they were investigating the case.

"The girl was at home with her mother and brother when three men stormed into their house around 1 am on Wednesday. While two accused threatened to shoot her mother and 14-year-old brother, the third one raped the girl," Gwalior's Bijoli Police Station in-charge Raghuvir Meena reportedly said.

"The trio was arrested last night and further investigations are underway," he said on Monday (4 September).

The officer also said that the three men have been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for alleged gangrape, criminal intimidation, and illegal tresspassing as well as under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act or Posco Act.