Mumbai Shocker: Rickshaw driver rapes boy on pretext offering sweets

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A 50-year-old autorickshaw driver was on Sunday arrested for allegedly raping a nine-year-old boy on the pretext of offering sweets. The driver was well-known to the boy's family as he has been ferrying the boy to his school every day for more than six years.

According to the police, on November 11, the accused called up the boy's father and asked him to send the victim to pick up Diwali sweets at his residence. Later, the victim's older sister dropped him off at the driver's house and returned. Taking advantage of the situation, the accused sodomised the boy and even threatened him of severe consequences, if he reported the matter to his parents.

The matter came to light when, the victim's mother came to pick her son, who had failed to return for over an hour. While she was on her way, she saw the boy crying walking home alone. The boy narrated the ordeal to his parents, who then approached the Bhandup police station and registered a complaint against the rickshaw driver, reports Hindustan Times.

The driver has been arrested under section 377 (unnatural offences), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, along with 4 (penetrative sexual assault), section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault), 12 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).

In another similar incident last week, a five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 12-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district, the police said. The incident took place in a village under Kalan police station limits, they said.

Police station in-charge Harendra Singh Tomar said the girl was playing outside her residence when the accused allegedly lured her to his house and raped her.

The girl has been sent for a medical examination and investigation is underway, he said, adding that the accused is absconding.

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