7-year-old girl raped in MP's Damoh, her eyes damaged by accused

In a shocking incident, a seven-year-old girl was raped and attempts were made to damage her eyes despite lockdown in place at Jabera in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh. A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Police sources said the minor was left with her hands tied in an abandoned house in an agriculture field outside the village, where she was found on Thursday morning. The girl was sent to Jabalpur for treatment and her condition is said to be stable. Doctors are trying to gauge the extent of damage to her eyes, sources added.

The accused has been identified as Sachin Sen, a resident of Banshipur village that the girl belongs to. He has been booked for rape, attempt to murder, abduction and other charges under provisions of IPC and POCSO Act, a release by Damoh police said.

Damoh police had formed a special investigation team under additional superintendent of police Vivek Lal and announced a reward of Rs 10,000 on the unidentified accused. Sagar zone Inspector General of Police (IG) Anil Sharma had reached the spot of incident on Thursday afternoon to take stock of the situation and direct the investigations.

Madhya Pradesh has been carrying the ignominy of being the state with highest number of rapes in the country, including rapes of minors, for the past several years. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics for the year 2018 (the latest available), a total of 6,480 rape cases under IPC and POCSO were registered in Madhya Pradesh, of them as many as 3,877 (60 per cent) were those of minors.

According to police sources, the girl from Banshipur village under Jabera police station had gone missing since Wednesday evening after she went out to purchase certain things. The family kept searching for her overnight and finally found her in the abandoned house in a serious condition with her hands tied and deep injuries in eyes early on Thursday morning.

Ex-chief minister Kamal Nath attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, saying that it is pulling the state towards a critical situation. In a tweet, Nath asked CM Chouhan as to how the criminals were acting with such audacity during lockdown. 

“This is such a brutal incident during lockdown, when common people cannot even go out to buy essentials. Criminals are roaming free. Incidents of rapes, murders including that of farmers, firing and stabbing are being reported. Even innocent girls are not safe. The culprits in the Damoh incident should be nabbed immediately and strict action taken on them. The girl should be provided proper medical care, the family should be helped in all possible way and action should also be taken on responsible authorities who were negligent,” the ex-CM tweeted.

Chouhan also took to Twitter over the incident, terming it as shameful and unfortunate. “I have taken cognizance of the incident and directed for the culprits to be nabbed as early as possible. Strict punishment would be meted out to them. All treatment facilities will be provided to the girl,” the CM said.

Despite repeated attempts, Damoh superintendent of police Hemant Chouhan or Sagar zone IG Anil Sharma could not be contacted for comments.