An Aug. 30, 2024 file photo shows people attending a protest against sexual violence against women and girls in Kolkata, India. RUPAK DE CHOWDHURI/NURPHOTO/GETTY

Police in the southern Indian state of Kerala have arrested 49 of 64 men accused of sexually abusing an 18-year-old girl over the last five years. The girl, who has not been identified, has reportedly told investigators that she was sexually abused and gang raped multiple times since the age of 13.

The men accused of the attacks include a childhood friend of the girl, along with neighbors and family friends, police told CBS News' partner network, BBC News. There are at least five students from her college and former classmates from her school among the accused, according to Indian outlet The News Minute.

The majority of the accused are themselves either teenagers or in their early 20s, according to The Times of India.

"Forty-nine people have been taken into custody," Pathanamthitta district Deputy Superintendent of Police Nandakumar S. told the AFP news agency on Wednesday. "We have identified the remaining 14 and they would be arrested soon."

The alleged abuse started five years ago when the girl's neighbor allegedly molested her and took sexually explicit photographs and videos, which he then shared with others and used to blackmail the girl as he continued to abuse her.

Police have told Indian media outlets that the girl was allegedly gang raped at least three times over the past five years.

The alleged abuse came to light last month when a team of counsellors working under a government program visited her house.

"She was given counselling, and she opened up before a psychologist, narrating the sexual abuse she has been facing since the age of 13," N. Rajeev, head of the national Child Welfare Committee, was quoted as telling the Indian Express.

The Kerala Police have tasked a team of 25 officers with investigating the allegations.

At least 18 cases have been registered in relation to the girl's alleged abuse so far under various Indian laws — including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act — which is intended to prevent crimes against people from the lower castes and tribes in India's centuries-old social hierarchy.

The victim of the mass abuse in Kerala is a member of the Dalit community, which is the lowest caste in India. Dalits have faced widespread discrimination and abuse for many years.

Criminal cases have also been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, as the majority of the alleged abuse took place when the girl was a minor, Deputy Superintendent Nandakumar told the BBC's Hindi language service.

The horrific scale of the alleged abuse has drawn national headlines in a country where an average of almost 90 rapes were reported every day in 2022, the most recent year for which national data is available. Many more are believed to go unreported.

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