Cops got CCTV footage of minor’s kidnapping only on second day

Surat: Had the police acted swiftly in gathering footages of CCTV cameras on the first day when the two-year-old girl in Amroli was kidnapped, the minor may have been saved from the sexual predator in time. However, as the cops took time to register a case and recover CCTV grabs, the accused could kidnap the girl and assault her leaving her with serious injuries. The girl was found only when a local woman alerted others noticing her crying loudly the next morning in the open farm land in an injured condition.
According to the police, the minor was kidnapped at around 3 pm on Monday. But the family alerted police only at night at around 9 pm. . After receiving information police registered an offence at 11.30 pm and started their search operation, but could not recover the footage in which the accused was seen kidnapping the child.“The kidnapping was not reported immediately and police did not have information of the CCTV camera in which the footage was captured. It was a roadside eatery and we could recover footage only on the next day during our investigation,” said Satish Sharma, city police commissioner.

After a series of gruesome sexual assaults on minor girls, the city police started a drive to create awareness among school children and parents. Police also deployed patrol teams of child welfare officers who were instructed to keep tight vigil in the police station limits and start immediate action in case of missing or kidnapping of minor. However, within a few months of the drive, the city has once again seen a spurt in such sexual assault cases against minor. The areas where such cases were reported on regular basis include Pandesara, Limbayat and Dindoli.