An eight-year-old girl who was asleep in her home was abducted and raped in Aluva in Ernakulam district in the wee hours of Thursday, September 7. The incident came to light after a neighbour saw the child being dragged away by a man. Residents later found the wounded child in a paddy field. The child, who is the daughter of a migrant labourer couple, sustained severe injuries and will need surgery, according to police.
Ernakulam Rural Superintendent of Police (SP) Vivek Kumar said, “Around 2 am, one of the witnesses saw the child with the suspect and he informed the police. By the time police reached the spot, the residents had taken the child to the hospital. She is in a stable condition, but has injuries in her private parts.”
Media reports say that the child was asleep with her siblings in one room, while the mother was sleeping in the adjacent room. The father was reportedly out of town. The suspect is said to have opened the main door by reaching in through an open window and abducted the girl.
A resident told the media that he saw a man dragging a child through the road at night. He said that he alerted his neighbours and started the search.
“While we were searching near the field, we saw the child running. We took her to her home. Until then, her family had not known that she had gone missing. They told us the child was sleeping with them. We took her to hospital then,” an auto driver who is a neighbour of the child told the media.
The officer said that the witness as well as the victim have identified the suspect and he will be soon arrested. Police have also got CCTV visuals of the suspect and residents have identified him. “The suspect is a Keralite as far as we know. Further details need to be confirmed after the arrest,” the SP added.
On July 28, the five-year-old daughter of a migrant couple was abducted, raped, and killed near the Aluva market. The child was taken away by the accused when she was at home with her siblings. Later that day, when her parents returned from work, they realised that she was missing and filed a police complaint. CCTV visuals from the area showed Asfaq Alam, a migrant worker who had reportedly moved to the building adjacent to the girl’s family two days back, taking the child with him. Asfaq first took her to a nearby shop, from where he bought her juice. He was then seen crossing the railway tracks and taking a bus. He was later arrested. The victim’s body was recovered from behind the Aluva market on the next day.