Priest held for sexually abusing minor

A 25-year-old priest from Mulund who allegedly sexually abused a four-and-a-half-year old girl at Airoli, has been arrested by the police on Monday.

According to the police, the victim stays with her family at sector 8 in Airoli. Sourav Joshi, sexually abused her when she was playing alone near her building on Monday afternoon.

"The victim's mother was busy with her household chores when she went out play in the afternoon. There was no other poeple in that neighbourhood that time. Taking that advantage, the accused removed her undergarments and then allegedly touched her private parts," said Adinath Gawade, assistant police inspector from Rable police station.

After a few minutes, when the mother came to take the girl home, she spotted the Joshi committing the crime. She then raised an alarm following which some local residents of that area got hold of Joshi. They later took him to the police station.

"The victim also narrated the entire episode to her mother at a later stage. Following a complaint registered by the victim's family we arrested the accused within one hour," he said.
The police have booked the accused under sections 354 of Indian Penal Code and sections 8 and 12 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. He was produced before the judicial court on Tuesday afternnoon.

"It is still not clear, why the accused came to Airoli from Mulund on Monday. We suspect, he has some relatives in that area where the victim stays with her family. We have not found any criminal record of him so far. Our investigations are on," another police officer from Rabale police station said.

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