11-month-old girl raped by neighbour in Gujarat's Bharuch district

SURAT: An 11-month-old girl was brutally raped by a 28-year-old neighbour at Kharod village in the jurisdiction of Panoli police station in Bharuch district on Sunday evening.
Police arrested the accused, a labourer, on Monday. According to police, he took the victim from her grandmother on the pretext of buying her a packet of wafers. He then took her to a secluded spot nearby and committed the heinous crime.The victim was hospitalized with severe injuries.
According to the FIR, the accused is from Bhojpur district of Bihar. He works as a labourer and lives in a rented room at Kharod village with his friends. The victim's family lived in the same building. On Sunday evening, the victim's mother and grandmother took her to the eatery run by her aunt. At about 7.30pm, the accused approached the grandmother and took the child with him, saying he would buy her a packet of wafers. As Singh was known to her, the grandmother handed over the child to him. In a few minutes, the grandmother heard the child crying and rushed towards the sound. She found the accused with the victim, who was crying loudly and bleeding profusely. Singh handed the child back and fled. The child was rushed to Bharuch Civil Hospital.
Hospital authorities informed police. Based on the mother's complaint, the accused was booked for rape of a woman younger than 12 years under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 65 (2) and for aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Sections 4, 6 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. "We have arrested the accused," a police officer said.
The victim's family, originally from West Bengal, settled in Bharuch three years ago. She is hospitalized and is currently said to be stable and out of danger.