6-yr-old Hapur rape victim ‘extremely critical’, police release sketches of accused

The incident took place Friday when a man kidnapped the girl from outside her house. She was later found in a nearby field with grievous injuries.

The Hapur police have released three sketches of the accused rapist, who is absconding | By special arrangement

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Police has released three sketches of a man accused of brutally raping a six-year-old girl in Hapur district Friday.

According to Hapur police sources, these sketches were prepared on the basis of inputs received from eyewitnesses.

The accused’s name is still not known, but the police said he had kidnapped the girl on a bike, raped her and then left her in a grievous condition in a field. The victim is undergoing treatment in a Meerut hospital, but her condition is being described as “extremely critical”.

Pawan Kumar, circle officer (CO) of Garhmukteshwar in Hapur, who is heading the police team looking for the rape accused, told ThePrint the sketches have been prepared on the basis of inputs received from two women who had seen the girl being forced to sit on the bike.

The police are searching for the accused throughout Hapur district, especially at its borders, to see he does not escape. The rape victim’s family has filed a case against “an unknown person”, but the police are not ruling out the possibility of the accused being known to them.

How the crime was committed

According to the police in Hapur, the six-year-old girl was playing outside her house when the accused, a young man, forcibly hoicked her up on to his motorcycle. Later, the girl was found in a nearby field with grievous injuries to her private parts, indicating rape.

CO Pawan Kumar said the police were informed about the kidnapping only about four or five hours after the incident, whereas the family should have informed them immediately. By the time they reported the incident to the police, the accused had escaped.

“Now, we are conducting raids on the basis of these sketches. We hope that the accused will soon be in police custody,” he said.

Complex injuries

According to local media reports, the victim has been admitted to a medical college in Meerut, where doctors have said she has sustained very complex injuries. So complex, in fact, that it’s difficult to perform any kind of surgery — the doctors have had to create an alternative passage for urine and excreta.

Meanwhile, a video has also gone viral on social media, in which the rape victim’s father is shown pulling the stretcher on his own. The father said he had to pull the stretcher because no ward boy was present at the time.

The hospital administration has said it will take appropriate action after conducting a thorough investigation in this matter.

Opposition targets Yogi govt

UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu has said the brutality of the crime has given goosebumps to everyone, and alleged that the police kept suppressing the matter.

“Why are daughters not safe in UP? The CM must reply. Does he have any answer to this?” Lallu said.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Juhie Singh said a heinous crime had been committed on a minor girl in Hapur, and that the government “should be ashamed of itself”.

“Nowadays, similar incidents are occurring all over the state. The government must have some shame and remorse,” she said.

However, Naveen Srivastava, UP BJP spokesperson, said: “One should not connect everything with law and order. Those who are committing such crimes have a sick mindset, and strict action should be taken against them.”

He also hit out at the Samajwadi Party for blaming the BJP government, saying: “I remember once Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP founder) said ‘ladke hain, galti ho jaati hai’ about a rape accused. How can one imagine any sensitivity from their party?”