Man arrested for raping girl he abducted twelve years ago in Mumbai

The Bandra police on Friday arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly abducting a three-year-old girl twelve years ago, forcing her into begging, and then raping her since the last two years.

The accused has been identified as Sudhir Chaudhary, a slum dweller residing in Bandra (East). According to the police, the accused, who survived on odd-jobs, allegedly picked up the three-year-old girl in 1999 from Borivli station, where she was lying unattended. Chaudhary’s mistress Julie was with him at the time of the abduction.

The girl, who is in a state of trauma, has told the police that since then, she had been staying with the duo at a shanty in Mahim. “The child was forced into begging and was made to sit near Mahim dargah and church, apart from being asked to beg on the roads,” said a police official. The victim was also sent to work as a maid.

The accused and his mistress would survive on the girl’s income and spend it on their drinking habit.

The officials said that around two years ago, Julie left the accused and since then, the accused would regularly sexually abuse the girl. When the girl objected, she was assaulted.

The police said that on Wednesday, the girl gathered courage to confide her ordeal to a friend living nearby, who asked her to approach the police and seek action against Chaudhary. “The medical test conducted on the girl confirmed rape and she has been found to be one-and-a-half months pregnant. She is being given psychiatric treatment to help her come out of the mental trauma,” said assistant police inspector AR Mulani of Bandra police station.

An FIR was lodged against Chaudhary and he was arrested on Friday when he was seen roaming around his home.