Baripada: Police have arrested a 35-year-old man on charge of raping an eight-year-old girl at Kuliana village, around 25km from here.

The survivor happens to be the step-sister of the accused.

Though the crime was allegedly committed on the evening of May 8, it was reported to the police on Sunday. Acting on the complaint, the police arrested the man from his house on Monday night.

The man has been produced in court after being booked under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, following his medical examination, said Baripada sub-divisional police officer Abhimanyu Nayak.

The accused is a daily wage earner, who has many times drawn the wrath of his fellow villagers for allegedly being a drunkard and committing nuisance. However, the police said the man did not have any criminal antecedents.

In this case, too, people in his neighbourhood have accused the man of having a bad eye on his step-sister. "It's a pre-planned crime. He must have been looking for an opportunity to commit the crime for long," said a fellow villager, who did not wish to be named.

The police said the man on the evening of May 8 found the girl alone in her house as her parents had gone out. He, therefore, entered the house in an inebriated state and raped the girl behind the toilet in the backyard of the house. After committing the crime, the accused fled the scene, leaving the girl there.

When the girl's parents returned home, she narrated her plights before them. On hearing this, when they started searching for him, the man could not be traced any where at the village. The next day when the accused returned to the village, he was confronted.

Following parleys at the family level over the incident, several rounds of meetings were held at the village level to resolve the matter. The gentries, who had earlier been apprised of the matter, had even reportedly advised the man to settle the issue by paying some monetary compensation to the girl. But, the girl's mother did not abide by this.

As the gentries had failed to deliver justice to her girl, her mother decided to lodge a police complaint and did it on Sunday.

Police sources said the accused's father had married twice. The crime was committed by the son from his first wife, who stays nearby at the same village.

"The medical examinations of both the girl and the accused have been conducted, and the girl's statement has been recorded," said Nayak.