A 48-year-old Bihar man has been arrested in Assam’s Sivasagar district on charges of raping a 12-year-old girl multiple times, police said on Saturday.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Sivasagar, Moidul Islam said that the accused and the victim are residents of the same area under Sivasagar police station, and he took advantage of the absence of her parents.
According to the victim’s family members, the matter came to light on Friday, after she complained of severe pain in her abdomen. “Her family members said that she was raped several times at her home in the absence of her parents,” the officer said.
He added: “She is the eldest daughter and she was taking care of her siblings when her parents went out to work during the day. The accused took advantage of that and entered the house and raped her several times.”
Islam said the family members of the victim lodged a complaint on Friday afternoon and a case under Section 65 (1) (rape of a girl below 16 years) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act and Section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012 was registered immediately.
The police said that the accused was initially on the run but with the help of local residents, he was caught and subsequently formally arrested. “He has been produced before the court and we are further investigating the matter,” the officer said.
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Local residents said: “We took a stand against this and handed him over to the police. We demand a deterrent punishment for him and stand with the victim’s family.”
According to the police, the accused is a pani puri seller from Bihar’s Samastipur district in Sivasagar town.
The officer said: “He lives in a rented house in the same neighborhood as the victim’s family, and the victim’s parents work on a daily wage.”
The police said that the victim has been undergoing treatment since she contracted the disease, and ordered mandatory medical examinations for her. “We will record her statement once she recovers and this will be done under the direct observation of the court,” the additional SP said.
He added that the accused’s statements were recorded and all other possible evidence was collected.
