Nuh: Man arrested for kidnapping, raping girl in 2022

The girl escaped by raising an alarm and ran home to her parents, who immediately called the police control room; the suspect fled but was caught the next day.

A 39-year-old man was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and raping an eight-year-old girl in Nuh, police said on Tuesday. The victim sustained injuries and was hospitalised following the assault, they added.

The suspect, who lived alone and had at least three children, was booked under kidnapping and child procurement sections alongside POCSO at the Women’s Police Station. (File photo)

The incident took place on Thursday evening when the minor was walking alone to a nearby market to purchase snacks. Sub-inspector Manju Kumari, station house officer of the Women’s Police Station in Nuh, said the suspect spotted the child and lured her under the pretext of helping him carry a cot inside his house. “As soon as she went inside, the suspect locked the main door and raped her,” she said.

The minor raised an alarm, managed to escape, and ran home. “The terrified girl narrated her ordeal to her parents, after which they alerted the police control room for help immediately after which the suspect was booked,” Kumari said. Police, upon reaching the spot, found numerous liquor bottles, syringes, and injectable psychotropic drugs scattered on the floor.

The suspect, described as a drug addict who lived alone, had fled after the incident but was arrested on Friday. He was produced before a court on Saturday and forwarded to judicial custody. Medical examination confirmed sexual assault, and the survivor recorded her statement before a judicial magistrate, supporting the allegations in the FIR.

Investigators said the suspect had been married twice and had at least three children, but both wives had abandoned him due to his drug addiction. The victim is currently receiving counselling and medical treatment.

An FIR was registered on the complaint of the victim’s parents under Section 96 (procuration of child) and Section 137(2) (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at the Women’s Police Station, Nuh.