Ranit Kr. Singh , Chandigarh – A 28-year-old man was arrested in Faridabad’s Palla area within hours of allegedly kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old girl on Thursday night. The suspect confessed to the crime after an FIR was registered under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The victim, a Class VI student, was rushed to a local hospital after her family discovered her unconscious on the suspect's terrace.

The incident unfolded after 9:30 PM when the victim was walking to a local birthday party. According to Yashpal Yadav, the public relations officer for Faridabad police, the suspect lured the girl into his rented accommodation and assaulted her. The victim fainted during the ordeal, prompting the suspect to carry her to the terrace, where he hid her behind an overhead water tank.

Her family, with whom she had lived for six years, launched a search when she failed to return by 11:00 PM and discovered she never arrived at the party. Investigators quickly identified the suspect by scanning local CCTV footage that showed him escorting the girl. Family members entered his room and located the unconscious teenager on the terrace; she briefly narrated the assault upon being revived before losing consciousness again.