Maharashtra: Man held for raping 3-year-old girl in Palghar

Police have arrested a man for allegedly kidnapping and raping a three-year-old girl in Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official said on Tuesday. The incident took place on Saturday when the 38-year- old accused barged into the victim's hut at a village in Talasari taluka while she was sleeping with her mother.

The accused allegedly kidnapped the child and took her to a nearby field where he raped her. He then abandoned the girl at the spot and fled, Talasari police station's inspector Ajay Vasave said. Later, the child's parents found her in the field and rushed her to a rural hospital where she is currently undergoing treatment, he said.

The police sought the help of a dog squad and traced the accused, who worked at a factory in the neighbouring Union Territory of Daman, on the basis of slippers which he left at the spot before running away, he said. The accused was arrested on Sunday and a case was registered against him under Indian Penal Code Sections for rape and kidnapping, and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was on Monday produced before a local magistrate who remanded him in police custody till January 6, the police said.