E-Paper
Bengal: 13-year-old raped by relative; over 60 held for sexual harassment, unruly behaviour in Kolkata
Officers from Mograhat police station arrested the 48-year-old man hours after he allegedly raped the student of Class 6. He was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A 13-year-old girl was raped by her relative in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on Friday night, hours after chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked the state police to file charge sheet in such cases within 10 days.
Officers from Mograhat police station arrested the 48-year-old man hours after he allegedly raped the student of Class 6. He was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“We arrested Halim Fakir immediately after the complaint was lodged. The victim is now undergoing treatment at a state hospital,” Diamond Harbour police district’s superintendent of police, Bhola Nath Pandey, said.
The crime took place about 50km south of state capital Kolkata.
According to police, the victim was returning from a relative’s home on Friday evening when she met the accused on the way. The man took her to a desolate garden and raped her.
The girl’s family has alleged in their complaint that Fakir gave the girl Rs 200 to keep quiet about the rape. Her parents rushed her to a hospital when she disclosed everything.
Meanwhile, the detective department and special women’s unit of Kolkata Police went into proactive mode on Friday night in different areas of Netaji Nagar in south Kolkata.
They arrested more than 60 people on charges of sexual harassment and unruly behaviour and seized more than 50 motorcycles, said joint commissioner of police (crime) Murli Dhar.
Such drives will continue in different parts of Kolkata, he said.
Kolkata Police commissioner Anuj Sharma said on Saturday that the city was the safest among all metros according to the 2017 report of the National Crime Records Bureau.
“While the rate of cognizable offence rose by 3.6% in the country, the crime rate in Kolkata dropped by 31%,” he said while addressing the audience at an information technology fair.
