11-yr-old waylaid on way to dandia, raped in a tempo
A 30-year-old tempo driver, identified as Siraj Mehandi Hasan Khan, was arrested late on Wednesday for raping a 11-year-old girl on Tuesday evening in Jari Mari, Andheri (E).
The accused forced the victim into his tempo carrier and raped her there. However, when she began screaming, he let her go. Police have booked Khan for rape and unnatural sex and under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
According to police sources, the incident took place on Tuesday evening when the 11-year-old victim was on her way to enjoy the Navratri festivities and attend a dandia event with a male friend of her age. When the duo were near the Dawoodi Bohra mosque and cemetery on the dimly-lit road, Khan spotted them and questioned them for loitering alone.
Afterwards, Khan clicked a few photographs of the 11year-olds and threatened to show it to their parents. He also assaulted the victim’s male friend, after which the boy ran away. When the victim tried to scoot, Khan grabbed her and shoved her inside the carrier of his tempo, where he raped and attempted to sodomise her. However, when she began screaming for help, he let her go.
On reaching her home in Saki Naka, the girl told her mother what had happened. He mother immediately rushed to the police station to register a case.
Police Inspector Sunil Mane said, “After registering the case against an unknown tempo driver, the victim’s statement was recorded and she was sent for medical tests. Meanwhile, three special teams were formed to nab the accused tempo driver and informers were alerted.”
Fearful of a scolding from her parents, the girl had initially omitted the part of her story where she had gone near a cemetery with a male friend. A few hours later, she told a female constable about the male friend who had accompanied her. Mane added, “After learning about the minor’s friend, we made a sketch of the accused, as there were no CCTV cameras installed in the dimly-lit area. With the help of the sketch, we picked up 30 suspects and Khan confessed to his crime.”
Navinchandra Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 10) said, “The case was detected within 24 hours of being registered. Since it was a crime of a heinous nature, it was really important to detect the case.”
Khan was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for rape (Section 376), unnatural sex (Section 377) and sections of POCSO. Khan was produced in a holiday court on Thursday and sent to police custody for a day. Police nailed the accused Khan after they seized the tempo where he had raped the minor and found fragments of her clothing and viscera. Since the tempo was the scene of the crime, they sent the vehicle to Kalina Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) for further tests.