Mumbai: Locals thwart attempt to kidnap 7-year-old girl in Andheri

Nearly a month after a five-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped and left to die in Aarey Milk Colony, another young girl was saved from potentially meeting the same fate after she was abducted from the same spot. Locals managed to intervene and stop two men from thrashing and kidnapping a seven-year-old girl in Andheri (East).

mid-day's report on the Aarey rape on March 3

However, the duo managed to escape from the spot. In a chilling replay of the same chain of incidents, the girl was playing outside her house last week. At around 7 pm, two youths dragged her into an auto rickshaw the girl who was raped in Aarey had also been picked up by an auto driver from the same spot at approximately the same time (‘Auto driver abducts 5-year-old, rapes her and leaves her to die in Aarey forest', March 3).

According to the police, the youths were inside a vehicle on the main road. Investigations revealed that the auto had been parked on the main road and the men sat in it with the girl, and were beating her up. A local resident passing by noticed the girl crying inside the vehicle, and immediately informed his friend. Around five to seven people rushed to the spot to intervene.

‘We are family'
The group managed to get the duo to stop assaulting the girl. When questioned, the accused said the child was their sister's daughter and had run away from home. They told the people gathered there that they were trying to take her back to their mother.

However, the victim narrated the whole incident to the group and said the two men were trying to kidnap her. Suspecting their intentions, the crowd dragged the two men along, telling them to take them to the girl's house to prove their claims.

The accused took the group through bylanes of the area and, pointing at a random house, said this was where the girl lived and escaped from the spot. Failing to catch them again, the residents then went to the local Sahar police station to register a case.

Prakash Marde, senior police inspector, Sahar police station, said, "We have registered the case and are searching for the kidnappers with the help of CCTV footage of cameras in the area." Police have booked two unknown men under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC.