50-year-old arrested in Noida for trying to rape minor girl

The police arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly attempting to rape a seven-year-old girl in a village in Noida’s Phase 3 on Monday

The police arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly attempting to rape a seven-year-old girl in a village in Noida’s Phase 3 on Monday.

Based on the complaint, we have booked the accused man under the Indian Penal Code Section 376 for rape and sections 5 and 6 of POCSO. (AFP VRepresentative Photo)

According to the complaint filed by the girl’s mother, the incident took place on September 17 when the victim had gone to the accused man’s house to offer him ‘prasad’ (devotional offering). The girl is a student of class 4 and the accused man is her next-door neighbour. The identity of the accused man has been withheld to protect the identity of the victim. The accused man is unemployed and has a wife and son.

“The girl’s mother has claimed that on the occasion of Vishwakarma Puja on September 17, the girl had gone to the accused man’s house to offer him prasad. The accused man was alone in the house and tried to rape her. The girl managed to escape and ran back to her house. She then narrated the ordeal to her parents,” Akhilesh Tripathi, station house officer, Phase 3 police station, said.

The victim’s parents had first tried to lodge a complaint on September 17. However, they claim that the police initially refused to lodge the first information report. After the family protested outside the Phase 3 police station, the police finally lodged a case of attempt to rape against the accused man.

“We have conducted the medical test of the victim on Sunday and its reports are awaited. Based on the complaint, we have booked the accused man under the Indian Penal Code Section 376 for rape and sections 5 and 6 of the Protection Of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. After the complaint was duly filed, we arrested the accused man from his residence on Monday morning,” Tripathi said.