Thiruvananthapuram: A minor Dalit girl was tortured and raped by at least 12 men during the last two months at Attingal bordering Thiruvananthapuram district, police said.
Seven persons, aged between 19 and 32 years, have been arrested in this connection and a search is on for the main accused and some others, who are absconding, they said.
Police said despite the torture she underwent, the 15-year-old girl had appeared for the just concluded Class X examinations this year as she was keen to write it.
The girl, who stays with her mentally challenged mother and a cousin brother, works as a cinematic dancer for a living.
The two main accused, her cousin's friends, took the girl from nearby Attingal in their autorickshaw on February 2 stating that her cousin brother had fallen unconscious in an inebriated state. She was taken to a deserted spot and raped by the two, Amir and Anup Shah, police said.
While the latter is among those who have been arrested, the former is at large, police said.
The accused also recorded the heinous act on their mobile phone cameras and began threatening the girl that they would release it if she did not give in to their demands for sexual favours.
They also forcibly took her to various places and presented her to many persons for money through intimidation from February 2-March 30, police said.
Police said the girl had on several occasions been tortured when she tried to resist her tormentors. There were several injury marks of cigarette butts on her body. She was also forced to consume liquor and smoke ganja, they said.
The plight of the victim came to light on March 30, when she was physically attacked by the gang at Paripally on the outskirts after she refused to heed to the demands of her tormentors.
When local people gathered and questioned the men, they fled from the spot. Police took the girl to the police station where she narrated her torture.
The girl in her statement to police also narrated that the accused used to tie her up and beat her, forcibly make her consume liquor and take drugs.
