UP: 4-year-old raped by cousin in Hathras; accused arrested

A four-year-old girl on Tuesday was allegedly raped by her relative in Sasni in Hathras. The police said the accused has been arrested and a case has been registered.

Circle Officer Ruchi Gupta said that the girl's condition is stable.

"An information was received in police station Sasni that a four-year-old girl was raped by her own cousin who resides in her neighbourhood in Bhootpura," said Gupta.

"After receiving the information regarding the incident, our team reached the spot. The victim was sent to the hospital for the tests. We have arrested the accused who was staying near to the house of the victim," she added.

The incident came a month after a 19-year-old was allegedly gang-raped by four men in Hathras. She was rushed to a hospital in Aligarh, from where she was shifted to Delhi where she succumbed to her injuries.

The incident triggered protests across the country, forcing the Allahabad High Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter. The court pulled up the police and the district administration for hurriedly cremating the victim's body in the dead of night.

The court said that the act was an "infringement" of her human rights, adding that the victim was at least entitled to a decent cremation in accordance with her religious customs and rituals, which essentially should have been performed by her family.

The state government recommended a CBI probe into the incident. The request was accepted by the Union home ministry and CBI took over the investigation.

(With agency inputs)