61-year-old rapes minor girl over 3 days, held

Mumbai: In yet another case of a juvenile being sexually targeted, a 61-year-old man allegedly raped his neighbours’ six-year-old daughter at Kurla in central Mumbai after luring her with chocolates.

According to the police, the senior citizen lured the minor into to his house, where he raped her over three consecutive days. The assault took place from Sunday to Tuesday.

The incident came to light after the girl told her parents she was experiencing uncommon pain and was subsequently coaxed into revealing her ordeal, which left her family in a state of shock.

The parents lost no time in approaching the VB Nagar police station and lodging a complaint against the senior citizen.

“The juvenile underwent a medical examination, which showed that she had been sexually assaulted on several occasions. The accused was taken into custody and upon interrogation, revealed the sequence of events,” said an officer of VB Nagar police station.

The accused used to prey on the juvenile whenever she was home alone. The girl is being counselled and the police will find out if she had been similarly targeted by the accused in the past.

While the police is tight-lipped about the accused’s background, it said that he had been the victim’s neighbour for a very long time and knew her family well. The police is also probing into whether he targeted any other juvenile.

The police has filed a case against the accused under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Earlier this year in February, another 60-year-old man allegedly raped a 16-year-old, who had left her house in anger. The accused met her at Panvel railway station and lured her by offering a job but took her to a lodge and raped her.

On February 13, a lady working as a sweeper at Mazagaon Dock filed a missing complaint of her younger daughter with the Sewri police station.

She told the police that when she was on duty her elder daughter had scolded the victim for returning late from public toilet. Due to this the victim got angry and left home.

The man told her about a vacancy for nursing a patient. He took her to watch a movie and later left her at Panvel station saying he would receive her the next day.

The next morning, Shetty took her to Jui Nagar and raped her in a lodge. He then took her back to Panvel railway station and left saying that he would get food.