GHAZIABAD: A seven-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped while she was sleeping next to her family at a construction site in Niti Khand-2 and raped. Police said they have retrieved CCTV footage where the child can be seen with the accused and are trying to identify him.According to the girl’s father, the family shifted to the worksite from Madhya Pradesh after he bagged a job as a security guard at the site two months ago. On April 15, the family went to sleep inside the building around 11 pm while he was still on duty.“I fell asleep near them around 1 am. Around 2.30 am, I woke up to my daughter crying. When her mother and I asked what had happened, she told us that a man had covered her mouth, took her to Swarn Jayanti Park, barely 30 meters away, beat and slapped her repeatedly, then raped her,” he said.After the assault, the accused allegedly left her near the plot where the family was staying. “When her mother checked, the girl was bleeding. We went to the police immediately, but they have not arrested the accused or shared copies of the FIR and medical report with us,” the father said.He claimed that the accused threatened the girl that if she told anyone about the incident, he would kill her siblings and parents.DCP Dhawal Jaiswal said an FIR was registered against an unknown person under BNS Section 74 (rape) and relevant provisions of the POCSO Act at Indirapuram police station. “The accused was spotted with the girl in CCTV footage, and we are working to identify him. Several teams have been formed to investigate the matter,” he said.This is the third case of rape of a minor girl in the district within a month. On March 16, a four-year-old girl was allegedly raped and bludgeoned to death with a stone by a neighbor who lured her away with the promise of a chocolate. Another four-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by her maternal uncle last week. Her body was found under a parked car on April 12 in the Teela Mod area.(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
