New Delhi: A 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped and left injured behind a government guest house in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj district Sunday.
Videos of the girl, bleeding and pleading for help from onlookers, went viral on social media platforms. She can be seen trying to snap her fingers as she tries to get help from bystanders. The clip shows several people busy making videos even as she cries for assistance.
In yet another clip, a police officer is seen carrying the child away in his arms. She is currently admitted at a hospital in Kanpur. According to sources, an initial probe has shown that the accused is known to the girl. Sources also said that the accused had hit the girl on the head with a brick.
“The incident took place in an isolated area, behind a broken wall outside the PWD guest house. The minor has been seen with the accused, walking near her house, around 800 metres away,” the source said.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kannauj Superintendent of Police S.P. Kunwar Anupam Singh said an FIR was registered after the minor went missing Sunday noon and was found that evening in an injured condition. But the accused is yet to be arrested.
Charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), and IPC sections 376 (rape), 363 (kidnapping), 307 (attempt to murder) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) has been added in the FIR.
“The minor was critically injured and was rushed by the police officer to the nearest hospital and later referred to a Kanpur facility. She is recovering. Her condition is better than before,” the SP said.
The SP also confirmed to ThePrint the authenticity of the now viral videos.
“The family informed the police that the girl had gone missing after she stepped out to go to the market and didn’t return. She was found injured Sunday evening. The family said they suspect that someone had tried to sexually assault her and the accused left her injured after she resisted,” the officer said.
Speaking to ThePrint, the minor’s 18-year-old cousin brother said, “We were in our shop and she had gone out to buy something. When she didn’t come back, all of us went looking for her. She was bleeding profusely from her head. Her condition isn’t good.”
A student of Class 5, the girl is the eldest among four children. The family runs a shop selling snacks. The family also said they do not suspect anyone.
“She is admitted in the ICU. We don’t know who did this to her but we know for sure that the accused tried to sexually assault her,” her uncle told ThePrint.
What the FIR says
According to the FIR, lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by her uncle, she left home to go to the market around 1 pm Sunday.
“After 2-3 hours she didn’t return, my brother informed me about it. My brother and I went searching for her and around 5pm we found her blood soaked, unconscious, near the guest house. She was bleeding from her head,” the FIR reads. ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
“I suspect that some stranger manipulated and took my niece, with the intention of wrongdoing and hit her when she resisted and ran away from the spot,” the FIR says.
But according to sources, the accused has been seen with the minor in multiple CCTV footage in the area.
“Analysis of the CCTV footage suggests that the accused is known to the minor. They have been seen walking together and talking to each other. He is from the nearby area itself,” the SP said.
The identity of the accused has been withheld as he hasn’t been arrested, the officer said. “Further investigation is on. All efforts being made to trace the accused,” the officer said.
The police have recovered the brick allegedly used to hit the minor.
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