11 January,2016 07:27 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
The child went missing for 12 hours from Kurla on Friday and two men attempted to rape her; according to law, the police have to register a kidnapping complaint immediately in case of children below 14
Had the Nehru Nagar police registered a kidnapping case when a 10-year-old went missing from her house for 12 hours on Friday, the child could have been saved from her kidnappers who also tried to rape her.
An enquiry has been ordered against the officers at Nehru Nagar police station who delayed registering a kidnapping complaint in the case of a 10-year-old girl
On Friday, on the day of her kidnapping, the girl's parents approached the police, but the Nehru Nagar police just took down their statements and told them that they would be filing a missing complaint in a day, whereas according to law, the police have to register a kidnapping complaint immediately in case of children below 14 years of age.
After 12 hours of being away from her family in Nehru Nagar, the girl was found near Kalyan railway station. A woman passing by found the girl alone and in tears. She asked the girl her address, but the child could not say anything. The woman then retrieved the girl's notebook, which had her uncle's phone number.
The lady then called up the girl's parents, and took her home. When the girl's parents went to the police station on Sunday, the Nehru Nagar police registered a case of kidnapping against two unknown men who had attempted to rape the girl and had abandoned her at Kalyan railway station.
The kidnapping
According to the woman who found the girl, when she asked the child about her address, she said that she studied in a school at Kurla and had been kidnapped by two men on Friday. The girl told the police that when she was leaving the school premises, two men approached her. They showed the girl her maternal uncle's photo. They told her that her uncle was getting married in Kalyan, and they had come to pick her up since her family had already reached there.
After that, the girl told the police, she was taken to a hut in Kalyan where the men tried to rape her. However, they could not as the girl began screaming. Scared, the men took the girl to Kalyan station and asked her to wait while they went to get some food. The men then fled leaving the girl at the platform.
On Sunday, the girl's parents went to the police station and told ACP B D Rathod that had the police registered a kidnapping complaint and started investigations, their daughter would not have had to go through this ordeal. "When we approached the police, they told us that they would register a missing complaint after 24 hours and they just took our daughter's photo," said the girl's father.
After the ACP ordered the police officers, they sent the girl for a medical examination to find out if she had been raped. The officers are in a process of registering a case against unknown persons.
When contacted, Rathod said that he would conduct an enquiry against the officers who delayed registering a kidnapping complaint in case of the 10-year-old girl.
