Pune:
A nine-year-old boy has been detained for allegedly sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl in Pune’s Kondhwa Sunday. The boy – produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, which permitted bail and gave custody to his parents, for now – claimed to have been influenced by social media.
According to the police, the children’s families know each as both are long-time residents of the same neighbourhood; the boy is a Class III student at a local school and the girl used to call him dada, or ‘elder brother’. The alleged sexual assault took place near the girl’s home.
The alarm was raised after the girl told her mother what happened.
The mother then called the police.
The girl was questioned in the presence of a representative of a child rights body.
Sexual assault charges – under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the new criminal laws – have been filed.
