Kargil, Apr 2: Police have solved the rape case of a minor in the Leh district of Ladakh within 48 hours of the crime with the arrest of the accused person.
An official said that on 29/03/2023 at 20:30 hrs, Women Cell Police station Leh received a call from SNM hospital Leh stating that a girl child, 12yrs age, was brought by her uncle with “bruises/injury on head/face and hand etc and the child was also found sexually assaulted by an unknown person.”
On this police party from Women Police Station Leh immediately rushed to the hospital and a case FIR No 02/2023 U/S 5(m)/6 POCSO Act, 363, 307 IPC was registered at women P/S Leh. The child further stated that she is studying in the middle class in a school in Leh and she used to hitchhike or take the bus alone from her village to Leh/vice versa on a daily basis.
“ On 29th March after the school time at around 4:30 pm, she took a lift in a Santro car driven by an unknown person near Jivetsal, Photang, and the unknown person took her to an isolated place in Chuchot instead of her village where she was sexually assaulted, beaten with stones and was pushed into a rocky pit. The preparator of the crime left the child in the pit, and covered her with soil and stones while she was hurt and bleeding. The child later mustered the courage and walked towards the main road Chuchot which is around 5 km from the place of occurrence and immediately contacted her home for help,” Superintendent of Police Leh PD Nitya told media persons.
“ Leh Police immediately swung into action and different police teams were constituted to trace the accused person. After strenuous and hectic efforts by the police team, with the help of CCTV footage and human intelligence, the Police team was able to catch and arrest the alleged accused person namely Syed Zulfikar Ali Shah @Zulzul S/O Sayeed Murtaza Ali Shah R/O Thiksey within 48 hours of the incident and the Santro car used for the commission of the offense was also seized,” SP said.
The accused person on previous occasions also used to give a lift to the child and he knew her vulnerability as she traveled alone. Other important evidence through the Forensic team of district Leh was also collected which linked the accused with the commission of the crime.
Meanwhile, ADGP Ladakh Police SS. Khandare has announced a special cash reward for officers involved in the swift apprehension of the accused in the blind rape case of the minor girl under FIR No: 02/2023 U/S 5(m)/6 POCSO Act, 363,307/IPC.