A 25-year-old labourer accused of sexually abusing a five-year-old girl has been remanded to judicial custody and sent to Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. Tension gripped the Sanjaynagar area on Sunday night after the labourer’s arrest as hundreds wanted to lynch the man.
The girl had been subjected to a medical test on Sunday night and doctors who examined her told the police that there was no penetration. The accused was also subjected to a medical test after midnight.
A senior officer said the accused was produced before the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) special court on Monday. Since the police had almost completed questioning him and had taken his statement, the judge remanded him to judicial custody.
The sexual abuse took place at about 3.30 pm on Sunday when the girl was playing in front of the accused man’s house, which was adjacent to hers after her mother had left for work. The man pulled her into his house and abused her. The girl reported the incident to her parents in the evening. Soon, local residents caught hold of the man and thrashed him. The Sanjaynagar police detained the man and brought him to the police station.
Hundreds gathered before the police station asking the man be handed over to them so that they can kill him and send a strong message to abusers.
DCP (North) Dharmendra Kumar Meena, Hebbal MLA Byrathi Suresh and others pacified the crowd and assured them that they would take strict action against the accused, a West Bengal native working in the city for a year.
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Published 21 September 2021, 00:14 IST