KOLHAPUR: Solapur city police have arrested a man for raping a 13-year-old girl. The suspect has been booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) and the Schedued Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Assistant commissioner of police Vaishali Kadukar told the media that the accused was wanted in 26 other offences registered against him at different police stations in the Solapur city.
Police said the suspect approached three girls who were playing in a ground and introduced himself to the victim as a friend of her father. He promised the girls chocolates and took all three of them on his motorcycle for a ride. He then asked the two other girls to wait at a particular spot and took the victim to a house that was under construction. However, the security guard there became suspicious and drove them away. The accused then took the girl to another property and raped her. He dropped the girls at the spot from where he had picked them.
A family friend noticed the victim crying and immediately alerted her parents. The girl narrated her ordeal following which her father rushed to the police station and lodged a complaint. Police zeroed in on the suspect with the help of CCTV footages and the statement of some eye witnesses who had seen the suspect taking the girls on his bike.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)