A man allegedly kidnapped a 10-year-old girl and tried to rape her in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, but a group of villagers rescued the minor and handed over the accused to the police, an official said on Thursday.
A video clip has surfaced on social media in which the accused is seen tied to a tree with a few people standing nearby. The incident occurred on Wednesday, the police said. The official said that the police were considering invoking the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against the 27-year-old accused.
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"The accused kidnapped the girl when she went to drop her younger brother to a school located in the Kotwali police station limits. He took the victim in a forest area of Bhadaura, about 20 km from the district headquarters," Superintendent of Police Rakesh Sagar said. But when he tried rape the girl, she raised an alarm, following which some local villagers rushed to the spot and rescued her, he said.
They nabbed the accused and handed him over to the police, Sagar added. "The accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from the Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on the complaint of the minor's mother. The police are now mulling invoking the NSA against him," he said.
During the probe conducted so far, the police have found that the accused was earlier named in cases of kidnapping, rape and other offences in Ashok Nagar and Shivpuri districts of the state, the official added. The villagers who rescued the girl will be given a cash reward, he said.