Visakhapatnam: A five-month-old girl has allegedly been raped by a 40-year-old man in Ramabhadrapuram mandal of Vizianagaram district.
According to a complaint filed by the baby’s mother, she and her older daughter had gone out of the house on Friday at 9 a.m. to buy vegetables from a pushcart vendor while the baby had been sleeping in her cradle.
When the baby started crying, the mother sent her older daughter to check. The daughter saw her mother’s uncle from the neighbouring village holding the baby with bloodstains on her.
Seeing this, the older daughter raised an alarm, following which her mother and neighbours rushed to the house. The person put the girl in her cradle and managed to flee from the place.
The girl’s mother noticed bleeding from her private part and blood stains on the cradle. She shifted the girl to the government hospital in Badangi. Doctors there gave the baby first aid and referred her to the Government Hospital in Vizianagaram town.
Based on a complaint filed by the victim girl’s mother, police have registered a case under section 65 (2) (rape of woman under 12 years of age) and the POCSO Act.
Bobbili DSP P. Srinivas Rao told Deccan Chronicle that they have arrested the accused, who is a labourer, on Sunday morning. He had resorted to the crime under the influence of alcohol.
The DSP said they have seized the blood stain cradle and blood-stained clothes of the accused. These have been sent to a forensic laboratory for examination.
Home minister Vangalapudi Anitha and women and child welfare minister Gummadi Sandhya Rani have expressed shock. Sandhya Rani sought death penalty for the child rapist.
The home minister held discussions with officials and instructed them to ensure strictest punishment to the accused.
The baby is currently in a stable condition.
