MEERUT: Eight days after police in
Meerut
sent home a girl, 4, who was found dumped after over 12 hours of abduction, without even taking her to a doctor or conducting a medical examination, it said on Thursday that the accused had raped the girl and that he has been arrested after an encounter.
The girl was abducted from a bus stand in Meerut on the night of March 2. She was found dumped at a deserted spot in the city's Nauchandi area the next morning.
Police claimed that her parents didn’t want a medical examination of the girl and wanted her to take back home in Hardoi. And the city police allowed them to take away the girl.
In cases of minors who go missing, a case of abduction is registered and a mandatory medical examination is conducted before the child if given to parents.
A few days later, when local media reports claimed that the girl was sexually assaulted, senior police officers intervened and a case was filed.
According to sources, the girl’s family had returned to their village in Hardoi district.
Police approached them and got the medical examination of the girl conducted. Its report is awaited.
Meanwhile, the accused, Naushad Qureshi, in his 40s, who turned out to be a serial offender, was arrested on the night of March 10.
Soon after the arrest, police said that Qureshi confessed to having raped the child. It was then that the accused was booked for rape under IPC and also under POCSO Act.
When contacted, Vineet Bhatnagar, Meerut’s superintendent of police (city) said, “We had tried to convince the family for a medical examination at the time of the incident but they didn’t agree to it. The family was later called from Hardoi and a detailed medical examination was conducted.”
According to police, Qureshi was accused of rape in 2005 as well.
“The investigation took time because we interrogated several suspects, gathered relevant information and finally got hold of the accused,” SP (city) said.
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