Auto driver rapes teen in Navi Mumbai; she jumps out of auto to save herself

A 16-year-old girl from Digha was allegedly abducted and raped by an autorickshaw driver in the MIDC area of Mahape on Friday evening.

After raping her, when the driver was allegedly taking her to some other place in his auto, the girl jumped out to save herself. She suffered injuries and fell unconscious. Some people took her to a doctor and then to the police station assuming it to be an accident. On gaining consciousness, the girl narrated the incident to the police.

According to the police, the girl is an orphan and stayed with her grandmother in Digha. After completing school, she started working in a company at Mahape, MIDC. “A day before the incident, she had taken the same auto to reach home from work. Thus, the auto driver knew her timing and planned to commit the crime the next day,” said an officer of Rabale MIDC police station. On Friday, around 7pm, the driver asked the girl if he could drop her home. As she knew him, she agreed to board his auto. “The driver then took her to a forest area in MIDC and raped her . He asked her to not reveal it to anyone. He told the girl that he would drop her home,” the officer said.

“As the driver started heading towards Digha, the girl found something amiss in his behaviour. She thought he may be planning to kill her. As the auto was taking a U-turn at a signal, the girl jumped out. The driver fled the spot,” he said. The police have registered a case under sections 363 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

“The driver is from Solapur and stays in a rented house in Digha. The girl remembered the registration number of his auto and we reached out to its owner who gave the driver’s name and address” another officer said.

“After committing the crime, the driver went to his house and then ran away. He has two kids and a pregnant wife at home. He also called one of his friends’ wives in Digha to check if the police had come searching for him. His phone has been switched off since Sunday. We have formed multiple teams to nab him. The girl is doing well now,” he said.