Kerala police files chargesheet in case of assault, rape of 8-year-old girl

Kochi, Nov 20 (PTI) The Kerala police on Monday filed a chargesheet in a POCSO court here against the man accused of abducting and sexually assaulting the eight-year-old daughter of migrant labourers near Aluva here two months ago.

Police filed the 1,262 page long chargesheet in the Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions (POCSO) court here, it said in a release.

It has charged the accused, Krystal Raj (27), with the offences of abduction, assault, rape and robbery under the IPC and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

According to the release, on the chargesheet, 115 witnesses have been enumerated in addition to including 30 documents and 18 material objects as evidence.

Police, in its release, said the chargesheet was submitted in a time-bound manner, by closing all loopholes to ensure that the accused gets the maximum possible punishment.

On September 7, the accused had allegedly abducted, raped and abandoned the minor girl in a paddy field near Aluva who suffered injuries to her private parts in the sexual assault and had to undergo surgery.

The accused had also stolen three mobile phones, including from the victim's home, on that day, police said in the chargesheet according to the release.

The accused was caught several hours after the incident from under the Marthanda Verma bridge near Aluva in Ernakulam district where he was hiding and drinking alcohol.

The accused had allegedly abducted the girl from outside her home while she was sleeping and then sexually assaulted her.

When police found him hiding under the Marthanda Verma bridge, he attempted to flee by jumping into the nearby river and swimming away, but was caught with the help of local residents and pulled out of the water.

Raj, who hails from Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram district, is a suspect in several criminal cases, police said in the chargesheet.

The incident occurred a month after a five-year-old girl, whose parents were also migrant workers from Bihar, was abducted, brutally raped, killed and her body abandoned amid garbage in a marshy area behind the Aluva fish market, near the Periyar River on July 28.

In that case, the accused -- Asafak Alam -- was on November 14 sentenced by a court here to be hanged till death.

Following the second incident of rape of a minor girl in the space of little over a month, the state government and the police had come under intense criticism from the opposition Congress and the BJP. PTI HMP HMP KH