Mumbai: Man held for sexually assaulting minor in Dindoshi

The Dindoshi Police arrested a 44-year-old man on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting his minor niece, aged seven, on two occasions. Police said that the accused had lured the victim on the pretext of giving her a chocolate. The accused has been booked under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

According to police, the seven-year-old girl minor victim, who stays with her parents in Goregaon East, would spend the day at her grandmother's house, as her parents would go to work and could not leave her alone, unattended. The accused man, a resident of Nashik, had recently shifted with the girl's family in connection to search for work.

Police said that on April 10, when the victim was at her grandmother's home, the accused visited her and told the elderly that he was taking out the seven-year old for a round and buy her some sweets, and chocolates. Trusting the man, the elderly woman allowed the man.

It was, however, later revealed that the man took the girl to the empty home and sexually assaulted her. The incident came to light only when the girl later confided in her parents, who later approached the police. When the police were recording her statement, it was learnt that the accused had sexually assaulted her in the past as well.

Based on these findings, the police arrested the man, whose identity has been kept under wraps in a bid to not reveal the minor's identity. The accused will be produced before a sessions court at Dindoshi, where police will seek his custody.