A young girl returning home after celebrating Independence Day at school was kidnapped and raped in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
The Class 8 student was reportedly walking back home after flying the national flag at school when a man stopped her, pulled her into the children’s traffic park in Chandigarh’s Sector 23 and raped her, the police said.
The gruesome crime comes just days after women in the city directly administered by the Union Home Ministry held a candle-light march to assert their right to access public spaces without having to worry about their safety. The procession had passed through stretches considered unsafe for women after dark.
The young girl’s rape took place in day light. But there wasn’t much traffic on the road on Tuesday due to the Independence Day celebrations.
The police said she was taken to the local hospital for a medical examination and was being produced before a magistrate to record her statement to fortify the case.
A case of kidnapping, wrongful restraint and rape has been registered.
According to initial reports, the rapist let the girl go after threatening her against speaking about it. The girl told her family about the crime when she reached home who called the police.
Considered for long as one of north India’s safer cities for women and children, crimes against children have gone up in recent years.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau statistics, Chandigarh’s crime rate against children – crimes for every 1 lakh children – was three times the national average. The kidnapping rate for children in the union territory is four times the national average of 9.4 child abductions for every 1 lakh children.
Post Your Comments