Disabled girl raped in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad, accused absconding

A 15-year-old disabled girl was allegedly raped on Tuesday by a security inspector of a coal mine while she was on a morning walk with her mother in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district, police said.

The father of the victim, who is a former employee of the coal mine owned by Tata Steel Ltd, filed a complaint against the accused identified as Nirmal Kumar Singh with the Jogta police station.

“We have conducted raids in the quarter of Nirmal Kumar Singh twice since morning but it was found locked from outside,” Sarif Khan, in-charge of Jogta police station, said.

Police said the incident occurred around 5.30am when the girl, who is cannot speak and has a learning difficulty, was walking with her mother in Malkera Colony.

As her mother moved ahead, Singh allegedly dragged the girl to the bushes and raped her taking advantage of the deserted road, they added.

When her mother did not find her after a while she returned looking for her and found her daughter lying in the bush. She also saw Singh fleeing from the spot.

Her mother said she takes her daughter for morning walks every day after a doctor’s advice and due to her physical limitations she cannot walk fast.

“I had not expected any sensible person can do such a heinous crime with a helpless girl who even does not cry,” she said while speaking to reporters.

The girl was medically examined at Patliputra Medical College Hospital (PMCH) in the afternoon.

Government figures show that a child is sexually abused every 15 minutes in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report for 2016, there was a sharp spike in cases of rape against children with an increase of such incidents by over 82% as compared to 2015.