10-Year-Old Girl Sexually Assaulted By Her Uncles, Suspects Arrested

Two men, who had been allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in India, were taken into custody Monday.

The incident took place in the western state of Maharashtra. The child was reportedly being abused regularly for the last three years, according to the Pune Mirror.

The accused, aged 38 and 16, were the victim's uncles, media reports said. The 38-year-old man was the husband of the victim's aunt, while the 16-year-old was her mother's brother. The police arrested both the accused after a complaint was filed by the child's aunt who found out about her niece's ordeal.

The girl is the daughter of the complainant's sister, and had moved to Pune in 2018 to live with the family. The abuse at the hands of her uncles began in 2018 and continued till May 10 when the child revealed the assault to her maternal aunt.

“She is currently undergoing tests at Sassoon hospital. The man is in custody. The abuse started when she was 7-years old,” police officer Chhaya Borkar who is investigating the case, told the Hindustan Times.

A case under Sections 376(2)(i), 376(2)(n), 376(d), 506 of Indian Penal Code along with Sections 3, 4, 5(g), 5(l). 5(n) and 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act, 2012 were registered at Hinjewadi police station, authorities said.

According to a National Crime Records Bureau report released last year, India recorded 88 rape cases every day in 2019. The data also showed the rape vulnerability of a girl or woman increased up to 44% in the last 10 years.

In April, a 15-year-old girl accused her father of repeatedly raping her and also biting off her nose. The girl said her father also beat her up multiple times. Two complaints were filed against the accused in the western Indian state of Rajasthan. The first one alleged the father bit her and thrashed her. In her second complaint, she accused the father of raping her after she turned 13.

In March in Gurugram, a city in the state of Haryana, a man was arrested for raping his teenage daughter multiple times in the absence of her mother.