A five-year-old was allegedly raped in Noida’s Gijhore village in Sector 53 by her 23-year-old neighbour on Thursday, the police said.
The accused, who belongs to Kanpur, is a painter, they said. The victim’s parents are daily-wage workers in Noida.
The girl was outside her house at the time of the incident, which happened around 3 p.m. on Thursday. The accused lured her to a secluded spot on the pretext of playing with her and raped her, they said. Her parents were out for work when the incident happened. Locals reached the spot after they heard the girl shouting for help, the police said. The accused tried to flee but was nabbed by the neighbours.
Sector 24 police station SHO Pankaj Pant said: “We were informed about the incident at 3.30 p.m. Based on a complaint by the victim’s family, a case was registered against the accused under Section 376 [punishment for rape] of the IPC and the POCSO Act.”
‘Like my brother’
The girl’s father said the accused had been living in the area for the past year and visited their house daily. “I treated him like my younger brother. The police should take immediate action against him,” he added.