An autorickshaw driver from Belapur village in Navi Mumbai was felicitated for saving an 11-year-old girl from being sexually assaulted the second time.
The NRI coastal police felicitated Salman Shah for rescuing the girl on January 31 from a 16-year-old accused.
Senior inspector Ravindra Patil, said, “On January 31, at around midnight, the accused, a stranger, called the girl outside her society, when her parents were busy at a religious gathering held in their society. He took her to an isolated spot behind a petrol pump near CBD railway station and sexually assaulted her.”
Patil added, “The juvenile accused was arrested a month after the incident when he was traced to a CBD restaurant and bar where he worked as a waiter. We booked him for rape under the Pocso Act. He has been sent to the juvenile remand home at Bhiwandi.”
Auto driver Shah said, “The boy was with the minor girl on the streets in the odd hours and the girl appeared scared. When I questioned the teenager, he panicked and ran away.”
He added that the girl told me that the teenager had kidnapped her and sexually abused her behind the petrol pump.
“I contacted the girl’s father with the help of the mobile number the girl gave me. I informed him that his daughter was safe and I had rescued her from a kidnapper, who escaped. Her father said that they were looking for her for two hours,” added Shah.
Surjitt Sahani
