A 55-year-old man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a minor girl, raping her, and then administering poison to her in West Tripura district, the police said on Saturday. The 15-year-old rape survivor has been admitted to Govind Ballabh Pant (GBP) Hospital in Agartala, where her condition is known to be stable, the police said. The police said that the accused was reportedly known to the victim, who lives in the same neighbourhood, and was used to be called 'daadu' (grandpa) by the girl. The police said that the incident occurred on Friday morning when the accused allegedly took her to an abandoned room in the area and allegedly beat her up, due to which she fell unconscious. Later, she was raped by the accused, the police said. "We received the complaint yesterday. Though he was absconding after the incident, we finally arrested him at midnight from a nearby location. He will be produced before the court today (Saturday)," said a police officer, adding that the accused was charged with sections of rape and attempt to murder under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. BJP MLA and mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) Dipak Majumder visited the rape-survivor in the hospital on Friday and demanded stern action be taken against the accused. "Our administration is committed to taking action against such incidents," said Majumder. Last month, an autorickshaw driver was arrested for his alleged involvement in an incident of sexual harassment of a minor girl in Khowai district. In another incident, two minors were sexually assaulted in different parts of Tripura, and the police arrested the accused persons in both cases. On August 22, the police detained two people based on a complaint of a minor rape in Gomati district. One of the detainees was a relative of the 16-year-old rape survivor. Earlier this month, a man was convicted of raping a school student several times and sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment in a different case at Unakoti district. In May, a man was arrested on the charge of abducting and raping a 14-year-old girl, three days after the incident.
