New Delhi: In another horrific act, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped and assaulted with a hammer by a man close to the railway station in Ulhasnagar town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police informed on Sunday.
The incident took place on Friday night and the accused, identified as Shrikant Gaikwad (30), a labourer, was arrested a day later, a railway police official said, as reported by news agency PTI.
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"The girl was walking on a skywalk at the Ulhasnagar railway station on her way home from Shirdi, along with her two friends, when Gaikwad suddenly came there and forcibly removed her scarf. Later, he attacked her on her head with a hammer. He also threatened that he would harm her friends if they came to her rescue," the railway police official said.
According to the inputs, the victim was then forcibly taken to a shanty near the railway station and where Gaikwad raped her. He also beat her up when she tried to flee from the spot late.
The girl managed to escape on Saturday morning when Shrikant was not present and reached her residence later, the police official informed.
Her family members lodged a complaint at the Kalyan railway police station.
A special team was constituted and based on a tip-off, Gaikwad was arrested from the Shri Ram Chowk area in Ulhasnagar on Saturday night.
He was booked on the charges of rape, kidnapping and others and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official said.
DCP M M Makandaar of GRP informed that the accused was produced before a local court, which remanded him in police custody till Tuesday.
The police revealed that the victim has received injuries on her head and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ulhasnagar.
The incident comes after another brutal rape case was reported in Mumbai wherein a 34-year-old woman was raped and brutalised with a rod by a man inside a stationary tempo in the Sakinaka area on Friday.
She died at a hospital during treatment in the early hours of Saturday. The suspect was arrested within a few hours of the incident.
Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey expressed concern over the cases. "Rape and murder of minor girls had taken place in Maharashtra in the past few days and the police must probe them as soon as possible, arrest the culprits and charge sheets must be filed within 60 days," he said, as quoted by PTI.
The DGP also stated that police must monitor railway stations, colleges etc to keep a check on eve-teasing.