Assam: Man arrested in Hailakandi for raping minor girl

Silchar: Police arrested a 25-year-old man in southern Assam’s Hailakandi district on Friday night on the charge of raping a minor girl.

The youth, Baharul Islam, was produced before a court on Saturday and sent to judicial custody.

The minor girl’s family lodged an FIR with the Algapur police station on Friday. As per the complaint, the girl was raped by Baharul in Saidbond, Part-I around 5 pm on Friday after she went to bring their goat from a jungle in the village.

Baharul, who raped her twice and threatened her with dire consequences if she told about the incident to anyone, fled away. The minor somehow reached her home and told everything to her family members, the complaint stated.

Sources said the girl was first taken to Hailakandi Civil Hospital, but after considering her health condition, she was sent to Silchar Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

The officer-in-charge of Algapur police station M. K. Das said, “We registered a case under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and launched a probe. Baharul was arrested at night. He was produced before a court on Saturday and sent to judicial custody.”

Notably, it was at least the third alleged incident of rape of a minor girl in Barak Valley in the past one-and-a-half months. In the last week of July, a minor girl was allegedly raped by her teacher in a village under Bazaricherra police station in the Karimganj district. A minor girl of the Reang tribe was allegedly raped by two men in Ramnathpur in Hailakandi district near the Assam-Mizoram inter-state border on July 15. 

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