A four-year-old girl was allegedly abducted from a railway shed and “sexually assaulted” at Tarakeshwar in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, officials said on Sunday.
The incident took place on Saturday when the child was asleep beside her grandmother under a mosquito net on a cot near the railway shed, they said.
The minor was found lying unconscious with injury marks near a drain in the area on Saturday afternoon, an official said.
The victim’s family said the perpetrator had cut through the mosquito net and carried the child away while she was asleep.
"She was sleeping with me. Around 4 am, someone took her away. I didn't even realise when she was taken. I don't know who the people were who took her away. They cut the mosquito net and took her away. She was found naked," said the girl's grandmother, showing the torn net.
The grandmother said the family had been living on the streets ever since their homes were demolished. “Where do we go? We don’t have any homes,” she added.
The girl, who reportedly belongs to the Banjara community, was initially taken to a local hospital and later referred to the Chandannagar sub-divisional hospital, he said.
A police officer said an investigation is underway.
An FIR has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, alleged that the Tarakeshwar Police were initially reluctant to register an FIR over the incident.
In a post on X, Adhikari accused the police of "burying the crime" to shield the state's "fake law and order image by suppressing the truth”.
"Mamata Banerjee, you are a Failed Chief Minister. Under your rule, West Bengal’s law & order has hit ROCK BOTTOM," he alleged in the post.