Mumbai Police on Tuesday arrested a 32-year-old rickshaw driver for forcefully taking a nine-year-old girl inside a secluded location in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai and sexually assaulting her inside a public toilet. After the girl's family noticed significant behavioral change in her for nearly 10 days, her mother and her elder sister asked her to share what had happened to her. The girl started crying and revealed her ordeal, said police. According to police, the victim stays with her 42-year-old mother and one of her elder sisters. "Her family members noticed that there was a huge change in her behaviour, as she was not talkative like before and had also become very guarded," said a police officer. On Monday, the victim's mother and her elder sister decided to take her to a restaurant for dinner. There, in the course of regular conversation, they asked her the reason for the behavioral change, after which the nine-year-old girl started crying and shared her ordeal. The victim told her mother and sister that at around 10.30 pm on April 12, she had stepped out of her house to buy a chicken dish. "While she was walking towards the restaurant, she said a stranger came from behind and grabbed her. She was then taken to a secluded public toilet, where the accused sexually assaulted her in the dark," said an investigator. Before the girl could raise an alarm for help, the accused escaped from the spot, said police. The nine-year-old has been traumatised after the incident. After she informed her family members on Monday, they reported the matter to a police station in the eastern suburbs. Subsequently, a case was registered on Tuesday under sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 (A) (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 8 and 12 under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. As the incident had taken place 12 days before it was reported, the senior officers appointed a special team to trace the accused. "In the hunt for leads, we revisited the spot. On inspection, we saw that there were CCTV cameras installed around the toilet," said an officer. Police officials started scrutinising the footage and zeroed in on a suspect. "We started circulating the CCTV grab (his picture) among our informers, when we came to know that the name of the accused is Sajid Ali Haider Sheikh.," said an officer. Police later traced the accused to a location near a restaurant in the eastern suburbs, from where he was arrested. Sheikh was produced before the special court and remanded in police custody. According to investigators, Sheikh was earlier booked in another case of molestation in 2018. Police are trying to ascertain whether he has sexually assaulted other girls in the past.
