JHARKHAND GIRL IDENTIFIES RAPIST,

A nine-year-old Jharkhand rape survivor, whose heart-rending story touched thousands following an HT report that her desperately poor father trudged to a medical centre almost every day with her in his arms, identified her tormentor during a test identification parade on Friday.

The minor was left with a ruptured intestine and other external injuries after she was allegedly raped by a 42-year-old driver, Surender Sardar, in her village Hatiapata, around 200km from Ranchi, on July 2. Help poured in from across the world after the HT report and she was moved to Ranchi’s Medanta hospital where she is recovering after surgery.

Hospital authorities allowed her to travel to Ghatsila jail in a wellequipped ambulance for the mandatory test identification parade to identify the accused lodged in the jail. Though Sardar was arrested on July 16, she was not in a condition to travel and testify before a judicial magistrate. “We are proud of the girl’s bravery,” said Anoop T Mathew, the East Singhbhum district senior police superintendent.

Her parents said they were relieved after the identification parade. “Sardar deserves to be punished lest he spoils the lives of other girls. We are proud she did not disappoint us and all those philanthropists who stood by us in our grief,” her father said.

Over the past one week, two women police officers counseled her regularly for the identification parade. “Her trust towards the lady officers gave her the strength to look into the eyes of the culprit and point at him,” said the child’s father.