14-year-old boy held for raping 6-year-old neighbour in Palwal

Accused allegedly sneaked into victim’s home, threatened her; booked under POCSO Act, sent to remand home after Juvenile Justice Board hearing.

A 14-year-old boy was apprehended on Tuesday for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl living in his neighbourhood after sneaking inside her residence in Palwal, police said on Wednesday.

The victim was home alone when accused sneaked in and locked the door; medical exam confirmed assault, she was discharged Tuesday after treatment, police said. (File photo)

The incident took place between 3pm and 3.40pm on Monday when the victim, a lower-kindergarten student in a private school in Palwal, was alone at her residence. “The accused was a class-VIII student in a government school in Palwal. The victim knew her and used to play together in the neighbourhood,” a senior police officer said.

Police said the victim’s father was at work while her mother had gone to bring her elder son, a class-I student, from school. A senior police officer said the main door of the victim’s house was open when the boy sneaked inside and locked it. “Finding the minor alone, he raped and also threatened her with dire consequences before leaving. None of the neighbours got to know about the incident as the victim could not even cry as she was in a state of shock,” he said.

Investigators said the mother returned home by 4.15pm and found the girl lying in a pool of blood. It was at this time that the girl cried and narrated the entire ordeal to her mother, police said. The woman immediately rang her husband, who rushed back home, and the two took their daughter to Civil Hospital in Sector 10-A for treatment.

Inspector Shree Bhagwan, station house officer of Chandhut police station, said the father had alerted the police control room about the incident, following which teams reached the spot and the hospital. “On complaint of the father, an FIR was immediately registered against the accused under section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act on Monday,” he said.

Bhagwan said the accused fled from the house for a few hours when police reached there but later returned and was formally apprehended on Tuesday and sent to a remand home after production before the Juvenile Justice Board. The accused remains at the remand home as of Wednesday, police added.

Bhagwan said the medical examination of the victim has been carried out, and doctors found injury marks on her body, establishing that she was sexually assaulted. “She was admitted at the Civil Hospital for a day and was discharged on Tuesday after her condition became stable,” he said, adding that further investigation was going on in the case.