Lucknow, Mar 15 (IANS): A 15-year-old orphan girl, gang-raped by men claiming to be her relatives, has been rescued by Child Line, a lawyer and the police, said officials here.

The girl was rescued on Thursday and six people, including two women, have been booked under the charges of 376D (gang-rape), 377 (unnatural sex), sections 5 and 6 of POCSO Act, 2012.

Three accused have been detained in the case.

In the FIR, the complainant lawyer Saif Mirza said the girl called him up over the phone, asking for help.

Mirza said the girl was lodged in an orphanage in the Thakurganj area in Lucknow. A distant relative took her out of the orphanage when she was six and since then the men in the family, including the 70-year-old prime accused man -- whom she called father -- were sexually abusing her.

“Their heinous act made the girl sick. She was forced to pop pills of different kinds. When she complained about it to the two women in the house, they beat her up and starved her, locking her in a dingy room. They threatened to kill her if she opened her mouth before anyone,” the complainant said.

He said the girl also filmed the act of the miscreants on a mobile phone. “When the kin were confronted, they did not have any papers to show. They did not even have the girl’s Aadhaar card,” said Rukiya, a lawyer associated with the case.

Additional DCP, central zone, Manisha Singh said a probe was being conducted in the case.

Meanwhile, the district probation officer, child welfare department, Vikas Singh said the orphanage was shut in 2021 under his supervision. “There were only 4-5 minors who were returned to their parents,” said Singh, adding that those with parents, cannot be kept in an orphanage and it was shut due to not having legitimate reasons for keeping children.