The Gujarat Police on Tuesday arrested a 35-year-old farm labourer for allegedly attempting to rape a minor girl in Rajkot district on December 4, The Indian Express reported.
The police said the accused, identified as Ramsingh Tejsingh from Madhya Pradesh’s Alirajpur, was shot in the legs after he allegedly tried to flee from custody on Wednesday.
The alleged rape attempt on December 4 took place when the girl was accompanying her parents, who work as labourers, to the field, the Hindustan Times reported. The family had migrated from Dahod district in Gujarat.
Tejsingh allegedly took the girl to a water tank nearby, gagged her and attempted to rape her at around 11 am, the newspaper reported.
Superintendent of Police (Rajkot Rural) Vijay Singh Gurjar said that when Tejsingh failed in his attempt to rape the girl, he “inserted a metal rod”, which caused internal bleeding and trauma to the girl, The Indian Express reported.
Rajkot Range Inspector General Ashok Yadav told the Hindustan Times that the girl’s parents found her bleeding and took her to hospital. “She was transferred to the government children’s hospital in Rajkot where she remains under treatment,” Yadav added.
A first information report was filed under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act based on a complaint registered by the minor’s father, the Hindustan Times reported.
Gurjar said that the police checked the security camera footage from nearby villages and drew up a list of about 100 suspects.
“From there, we zeroed in on 10 possible suspects,” The Indian Express quoted the superintendent of police as saying. “We showed the photographs of these 10 persons to the girl with the help of child counsellors.”
He added: “She identified one of the men as the perpetrator and an interrogation was done, during which he admitted to the crime.”
On Wednesday, the police were granted a five-day remand of the person accused in the matter.
Following this, a team of police officers, along with Tejsingh and government witnesses, went to the site of the incident in the evening to recover the metal rod and conduct a discovery panchnama, The Indian Express reported.
A panchnama is a written record of facts observed by witnesses during a search, seizure, arrest or inquest.
The superintendent of police told reporters on Thursday that when the group was on its way back, “the accused picked up a dhaariyu [sabre] and attacked the police team”, the newspaper reported.
“He first attacked Head Constable Harmesh Bavaliya twice, injuring him on the hand and chest,” The Indian Express quoted the superintendent of police as saying. “He then tried to attack the other police personnel.”
Gurjar added that “in self defence, two police officers fired one round each at the accused, injuring him in both legs, below the knees”.
Tejsingh and the injured police officers were taken to hospital, where they were referred to Rajkot Civil Hospital, he said.
“The police used limited force that was required only to stop the accused,” Gurjar said, adding that a second FIR would be filed against him for the alleged attack on the police personnel.
|
