STATE TIMES NEWS
Leh/Jammu: A 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man who also tried to kill her in Leh district of Ladakh, police said on Saturday, claiming to have solved the case within 48 hours by arresting the accused.
Despite being assaulted and left to die inside a pit, the girl mustered courage and walked five km before getting help from her family who got her hospitalised, Senior Superintendent of Police, Leh, P D Nitya said.
She said the women’s cell of Leh police station received a call on March 29 from SNM hospital stating that an injured girl, who was also sexually assaulted, was admitted for treatment.
A police team reached the hospital and a case under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act along with sections 363 (abduction) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered, the officer said. The SSP said the victim used to hitchhike or take a bus from her village to her school in Leh on a daily basis.
“On March 29, she took a lift in a car driven by an unknown person near Jivetsal, Photang. The man took her to an isolated place in Chuchot instead of her village where she was sexually assaulted, beaten with stones and pushed into a rocky pit,” the officer said.
She said the perpetrator covered the pit with soil and stones.
“The child mustered up the courage and walked towards the main road in Chuchot which is around 5 km from the place of occurrence of the incident and contacted her family,” the officer said.
She said several police teams were constituted to trace the accused.
“With the help of CCTV footage and human intelligence, a police team arrested accused Syed Zulfikar Ali Shah alias Zulzul’ of Thiksey within 48 hours of the incident and the car used in the offence was also seized,” the SSP said.
The accused had given a lift to the girl on previous occasions too and was aware of her vulnerability as she travelled alone, the officer said.
“Other important evidence through the forensic team of Leh were also collected which linked the accused with the crime,” the officer said.