In a major update, the grandfather of a four-year-old Banajara girl from West Bengal, who was reportedly kidnapped and raped in Hooghly district near Kolkata, has been arrested on Sunday and identified as the prime accused in the case.
The horrifying incident took place on Friday near Tarakeswar railway station, where the child’s family had been seeking shelter. According to officials, the girl was resting beside her parents when she was reportedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted.
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According to the News18 report, the victim’s family belongs to a nomadic Banjara community and reportedly does not possess official identification documents, which initially complicated the investigation for authorities. The family approached the local police after noticing a cut on the four-year-old girl’s throat. She was immediately taken to a hospital for a medical examination. Reports indicate that it was the family who brought her to the hospital themselves, rather than the police.
Postmortem Report
During the medical examination, doctors found that the child was bleeding, indicating that she may have been sexually assaulted. This led the police to launch an inquiry into the incident. Sources said that the family initially fled the hospital in panic but returned later. After their return, police formally registered a case and began a detailed investigation.
West Bengal 4-Year-Old Girl Rape Case Update
1. A 4-year-old girl from the Banajara community was reportedly kidnapped and raped in Hooghly district, near Kolkata, while sleeping next to her grandmother on a cot enclosed by a mosquito net.
2. The child was abducted late Friday night from a railway shelter in Tarakeshwar after the assailants reportedly cut the mosquito net, and the grandmother noticed her missing around 4 am.
3. She was found the following afternoon near the Tarakeswar railway high drain, naked and in a pool of blood, in critical condition.
4. The police have registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and are investigating to apprehend the accused.
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5. The incident sparked political outrage in West Bengal, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticising the Mamata Banerjee government for alleged police inaction and delays in registering the FIR.
6. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari accused the state government of shielding its law-and-order image while the child’s family faced initial hurdles in filing the complaint.