A five-year-old girl was critically injured after a 19-year-old neighbour raped her and dumped her in a huge pipe in Gujarat’s diamond and textile hub Surat while another girl of the same age was sexually assaulted by an unidentified man on Saturday, police said.
A five-year-old girl was critically injured after a 19-year-old neighbour raped her and dumped her in a huge pipe in Gujarat’s diamond and textile hub Surat while another girl of the same age was sexually assaulted by an unidentified man on Saturday, police said.
The parents of both the girls are labourers.
Eleven hours after the first girl disappeared, the police found her in severely injured and unconscious state from under a huge pipe lying at an open ground. Police said the accused, Kalu Bhumihar (19), who was taken into custody for interrogation on Saturday night and later arrested, confessed his crime but misguided the police about the location where he had taken her.
Police said Bhumihar who is an unemployed migrant, was arrested for alleged kidnapping, attempt to murder and rape. The arrest was based on a testimony of a six-year-old boy with whom the girl was playing when accused had picked her up on Saturday evening.
“The girl was severely injured and lying in unconscious state inside a pipe at open ground for over 11 hours between Saturday evening and Sunday noon. She is now under treatment now,” said a police officer.
“We received a complaint by a labourer couple from Dindoli area about their missing girl. Talking to kids that she was playing, we found out that Bhumihar, who was their neighbour, had picked her and left,” the officer said.
The police formed teams comprising 50 men from various police stations. After an overnight search, she was finally found inside a pipe which was to be used for pipeline construction, police said. Police claimed that Bhumihar told them that he often used to visit the place to drink alcohol.
The second girl is also under treatment but out of danger. The police are yet to identify her attacker.
She went missing on Saturday and had returned by the night in an injured condition. On Sunday, the parents took her to a hospital where doctors informed them that she was sexually assaulted.
The police have registered a rape case under POSCO Act against an unidentified person.