All six men were arrested by the local police on Saturday. (Representational)

Highlights The assailants included a 50-year-old man, his son, and four others

The girl sought help from her father, who reported the matter to police

All six men were arrested by the local police on Saturday

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by six men over the last 16 months in Indore, police informed. The assailants included a 50-year-old catering contractor, his son - a law student -- and four others. After the girl reported the matter to the police, six people, one of them a 16-year-old, were arrested on Saturday.

In March 2018, the girl - then a 15-year-old student of Class IX living in a hostel -- had to leave studies due to mother's death.

The teen and her younger sister started living with her father, who worked as a watchman at a commercial building.

But when her father was away, the catering contractor from her neighbourhood started asking her to come to his home to take care of his children in return of money. The accused are not being named to protect the identity of the minors involved.

Later, he started showing her porn movies on his cell-phone and raped her on multiple occasions. His son, a 23-year-old law student, also started sexually exploited her, threatening to make the matter public.

A few weeks later, the girl borrowed a cell-phone from the man's 16-year-old nephew to seek help from a boy who was her friend in school. But the 16-year-old too raped her, accusing her of having an affair with her school friend and threatening to tell her father. His brother, too, joined the list of assailants.

The matter became known to two young men in the neighbourhood, who also sexually assaulted the teen.

The girl finally sought help from her father, who reported the matter to the police. All six men were arrested by the local police on Saturday.

Tahzeeb Qazi , the in-charge of the Tukoganj police station, said: "The arrested men included the 50-year-old catering contractor, his law student son and his nephews, aged 16 and 18".

A report tabled recently at the assembly by the Madhya Pradesh Child Right Protection Commissions says more than 6,794 minor girls have been raped in the state in the last year. Going by the registered cases of child sexual offences, Indore is the worst among the state's cities.