Father of three held for raping seven-year-old girl at Mohali forest

According to police, on August 19, the seven-year-old girl, along with three other minor children, had gone to the garbage dump near Togan village in Mohali to collect scrap, when the accused kidnapped her

Police have arrested a father of three for kidnapping and raping a seven-year-old girl in a forest area near Togan village in Mohali.

Police said the accused tailed a group of children from a liquor vend in Dhanas and kidnapped the girl accompanying them from the garbage dump near Togan village in Mohali. (HT)

The accused was identified as Prakash, 28, a resident of Dhanas.

According to police, on August 19, the seven-year-old girl, along with three other minor children, had gone to the garbage dump near Togan village to collect scrap.

The accused tailed the children from a liquor vend in Dhanas and kidnapped the girl. The other children spotted the man taking away the girl, ran back home and informed her father.

The father alerted the police, who launched a search and found the child bleeding profusely in a forest area near Togan village. The child was taken to PGIMER, where rape was confirmed and she was operated upon for her injuries, and is now stated to be stable.

An investigation was launched on the father’s complaint and the accused was arrested.

He was produced before a court on Tuesday and sent to two-day police remand. He is facing a case under Sections 376 (rape) and 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, registered at the Sarangpur police station.