The Bhandup police have arrested two senior citizens for allegedly sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl for a period of over two years. According to the police, the victim in her statement also mentioned a third person who had sexually assaulted the girl too, who is at this point unidentified and untraced.
The girl was housed at Chembur Children’s House in Mankhurd when the matter surfaced. Chhaya Mutha, an officer on duty, found the girl’s behaviour suspicious. "The girl was behaving indifferently, so the officer started making her comfortable enough to share her worries. "After some time, she confessed how she was sexually assaulted by three men in the span of the last two years," said an officer at Bhandup police station.
The matter was then taken to the Children’s Welfare Committee by the on-duty officer, who then suggested approaching the police station.
The victim was first spotted by a member of an NGO on the streets of Bhandup, said the police. She was later sent to the children’s home.
According to Mutha, 44, the girl revealed horrifying details to her once she started opening up. "The girl was taken from her mother by her grandmother for safety reasons as she (the mother) was on drugs. "They (victim and her grandmother) moved to a place in Diva for shelter as they had no place to live," said the officer. This was during the lockdown period, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The place in Diva was where the victim was first sexually assaulted by the owner. According to the police, she was assaulted frequently till the period when the lockdown was lifted, and her grandmother decided to leave that place to resume her work in a place in Bhandup.
In Bhandup, the employer of her grandmother had provided them with a small place to live where a man would visit them. The man was known to the grandmother. While her grandmother and the employer were away, the victim said the man, would visit the house to sexually assault her. According to the police, Thakkar would rape the victim every time she was alone at the place.
The third accused in the case is still unidentified. The police said they are trying to get details from the victim and her grandmother, as the victim’s mother is still unavailable for cooperation. According to the police, the third accused sexually assaulted the victim when she was living with her mother in Nahur.
"We have arrested both the accused and, in the process, got details of the third accused, using every possible method. "He is suspected to be within the Mumbai jurisdiction. An investigation is underway," confirmed senior police inspector Nitin Unhavne, Bhandup police station.
Unhavne added that the victim has completed her medical examination and has recorded the girl’s statement before a magistrate in the presence of a counselor.
A case has been registered against all three accused under sections 376 (punishment for rape), 376 (a) (b) (punishment for rape on a woman under twelve years of age) of the Indian Penal Code, along with sections 4 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault), 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault), 8 (punishment for sexual assault) and 12 (punishment for sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
