Kolkata: A routine medical check-up at RG Kar Medical College blew the lid off a horrific year-long ordeal for a six-year-old girl in Lake Town, triggering a swift cross-jurisdictional police operation that ended with the arrest of her cousin brother on charges of rape on Friday afternoon.The breakthrough came when the minor, suffering from acute physical pain, bleeding and severe mental trauma, was taken to the hospital by her parents. Sensing foul play, alert doctors immediately flagged the Tala police, who came to the hospital, filed a zero FIR and escorted the family to the Lake Town police station, where the formal FIR was lodged.Within two hours of the formal complaint being registered, police traced the brother — in his 20s — and picked him up from his office at Sector V and arrested him.The incident marks acute awareness on the part of doctors as well as swift coordination between cops of two commissionerates, leading to the quick arrest of the sexual predator.“The youth lived in the same house as that of the girl. As per preliminary information, he was tormenting the child while the parents were away. We have already arrested the accused and will conduct the necessary medical tests before producing him before the court on Saturday,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar City Police.The youth was booked under Section 64 (rape) of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.The incident comes against the backdrop of the horrific rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Baruipur in which cops arrested four persons, one of whom was killed in a police encounter.According to the complaint, the child, a Class II student, had been complaining of pain in her private parts and abdomen over the last few days and was also bleeding occasionally, her parents complained. The parents complained the girl had also fallen silent over the past few weeks and had lost her playful nature.“The parents took her to a doctor when the physical pain aggravated. The doctor, diagnosing her, immediately sensed telltale signs of sexual assault and began asking questions to her and her parents if anyone known to her was torturing her. While interacting with the parents, the doctor called the local police,” said an officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate.Officers of Tala police station questioned the family further and upon learning that both the parents remain at work and the girl spends a substantial time at home with an older cousin brother, they sensed something was wrong, especially since the girl had shivered at the mention of him.“The cops from Tala police station brought them here, where she narrated the ordeal before us. We immediately started a case of rape and arrested the youth from his office,” said the officer.
