Soldier Tries To Rape 8-Year-Old Girl Traveling With Family On Train, Flings Her Out When She Resists

A 33-year-old soldier has been arrested for attempting to rape an 8-year-old girl who was traveling with her family on a train and then flinging her out from the moving train when she resisted the assault.

The incident came to light Tuesday after the girl was found injured on a rail track in Satara, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Police found that the suspect, who had also been traveling on the same train, had abducted the child in her sleep. The suspect then took the girl to a restroom inside the train where he reportedly attempted to sexually assault her. When the girl resisted his attempts and started to shout for help, he threw her out from the moving train.

"Fortunately, the train was proceeding at a slow speed and the girl survived," Sadanand Wayse-Patil, a police officer, said as per Times of India.

Some villagers found the girl lying injured on a rail track in the early hours of Tuesday and took her to a hospital nearby. She was treated for a leg injury.

The girl told police that she had been thrown out from a moving train while traveling with her parents and siblings from the southern Indian city of Goa to the city of Delhi. After identifying the train where her family was, the police informed the girl's parents, who were still unaware that their child had gone missing.

Despite her injury and trauma, the girl gave a detailed description of the suspect which helped authorities to track him. Police stopped the train around noon and identified the suspect, who was immediately taken into custody.

The suspect currently serves as a soldier in a military unit in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, The Indian Express said in a report, citing police.

"Solving this case would not have been possible without the courage shown by the girl in spite of her trauma and injuries. She did not just fight back, but also gave us details. She was on the tracks for five hours," an investigating officer told the outlet.