Man rapes 3-year-old girl in Gujarat village, nabbed from train; state forms SIT to probe case

Representational image/ File Pic

A man fleeing on a running train after allegedly sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl in Valsad district of Gujarat was tracked down and arrested within hours of the registration of the case, a police officer told news agency PTI on Wednesday.

The police have set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which will file a charge sheet within 15 days, he said.

The accused hailed from Maharashtra's Palghar district and lived in the girl's neighbourhood in Umargram village. According to the police, he was known to her family members. The accused, whose identity has not been revealed yet, allegedly took the girl to his room located above her flat in a chawl in Umargram and sexually assaulted her on Tuesday afternoon. He fled the village after the girl's mother found him with her daughter. The accused then boarded a Maharashtra-bound train, the police said.

The girl's parents approached the police around 6 pm on Tuesday. The same night, hundreds of villagers gheraoed Umargram police station, prompting Superintendent of Police Karanraj Vaghela to form different teams of crime branch officers and special operations group to nab the accused, the police stated in a release.

The accused was arrested from a running train in Maharashtra hours after the case was registered.

He was booked under section 65 (2) (for rape of a minor under 12 years of age) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Vaghela told reporters.

"A special investigation team has been formed to probe the case. The SIT will file a chargesheet within 15 days," he added.

Meanwhile, a man has been arrested in Mumbai for allegedly raping his nine-year-old daughter, the police said on Wednesday.

According to the Mumbai Police, the incident, which occurred in June, was reported to the Dindoshi Police Station after the girl recently disclosed about it to her mother.

"In June, the accused raped his daughter when she was alone at home and threatened her not to tell anyone. Recently, the girl narrated the incident to her mother. Her mother then took the girl to the nearby Dindoshi Police Station and lodged a complaint against the father," an officer from Mumbai Police said.

"A case was registered against the accused under the relevant sections of the BNS and POCSO," the police added.

The accused has been sent to police custody till Friday.

(With PTI and ANI inputs)