GHAZIABAD: A five-year-old girl was raped by her 21-year old neighbour on Tuesday while she was sleeping outside her home with her grandmother in Vijay Nagar. The youth, who lived two blocks away, dragged the girl to a nearby ground and raped her.The minor’s father, who works as a mason, said, “Due to power cut in the area, my daughter was sleeping outside the house on a cot with my mother. I along with my wife and a two-year-old son were sleeping inside. Around 1.30am on Tuesday, Gulab came in an inebriated condition and took my daughter to a military ground which is located just 100 meters away from the house and raped her.”On not finding the girl in the house, her parents and neighbours launched a manhunt and caught Gulab, a daily wage labourer, while he was trying to flee. “When my mother and wife woke up and did not find the girl in the house, they raised an alarm. I immediately alerted the neighbours and started looking for my daughter. After around half-an-hour, Gulab was seen coming out of a bush in the military ground and we caught him on suspicion. To our horror, my daughter was found lying in semi-conscious state with injury marks on her private parts, eyes and neck,” he added.The locals brutally thrashed Gulab and then handed him over to police. Meanwhile, the girl was rushed to MMG District Hospital for a medical check-up from where she was referred to Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital in Delhi in critical condition.On Tuesday afternoon, locals and members of several organisations staged a protest at the police station demanding stringent action against the youth and a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the treatment and education of the girl.An FIR has been registered against Gulab under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC and sections 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act ( POCSO ). Ghaziabad SSP Vaibhav Krishna said, “We are providing the best treatment to the girl whose condition is said to stable. The accused has been sent to jail after being produced in a city court.”

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