Naked, bite marks on cheeks: 5 chilling details in Bengal's child kidnap-rape case

The child was reportedly taken when she was sleeping beside her grandmother under a mosquito net on a cot near a railway shed in Tarakeshwar.

A four-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped while she was sleeping beside her grandmother and sexually assaulted in West Bengal's Hooghly district, near Kolkata.

Officials said she was found lying unconscious with injury marks near a drain in the Tarakeshwar railway station on Saturday afternoon.

The incident reportedly took place on Friday when the child was asleep beside her grandmother at a railway shed in Tarakeshwar. Officials said she was found lying unconscious with injury marks near a drain in the area on Saturday afternoon, news agency PTI reported.

Police have registered an FIR under relevant sections of the law, including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Efforts are underway to identify and nab the accused.

Bengal kidnap-rape case: 5 chilling details

• Mosquito net split open: The girl, who reportedly belongs to the Banjara community, was sleeping under a mosquito net on a cot with her grandmother near the Railway shed in Tarakeshwar when she was abducted by the perpetrator. In a complaint filed with the police, the victim's family alleged that the attacker cut through the mosquito net, split it open, and took the child away, an India Today report said. The grandmother reportedly said that she didn't realise the child was taken, adding that she does not know who took her granddaughter.
• A pool of blood: Panic gripped the child's grandparent and the community at the railway shed area when they found the four-year-old to have been taken on Friday. She was reportedly discovered on Saturday afternoon following hours of search. The child was lying in a pool of blood near a drain beside the Tarakeshwar railway station. She was rushed to Tarakeshwar Gramin Hospital and later referred to the Chandannagar sub-divisional hospital, PTI reported, citing an official.
• Found naked, bite marks on cheeks: According to Parna Adak, secretary of the BJP's Arambagh district, the child was found in a naked state, bleeding, with bite marks on her cheek. "Despite hours of treatment, she is still bleeding from her genitals," Adak was quoted as saying by India Today.
• Family alleges mishandling of case: The Tarakeshwar Gramin Hospital, where the child was initially taken, provided first aid to the girl and discharged her. The survivor's family has reportedly accused hospital staff of mishandling the case, claiming the child was bleeding from her private parts and the authorities of the facility failed to immediately inform the police. The family further alleged that when they later approached the police station, officials asked them to leave. The girl remains in a critical state.
• Oppn says 'police burying crime': Nandigram BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led government, accusing the police of trying to bury the crime. "This is the True Face of Mamata Banerjee’s free-for-all regime. A child’s life is shattered, yet the Police are shielding the State’s Fake Law & Order Image by suppressing the truth. Are they Police Officers or Mamata Banerjee's sycophants? Seems like Tarkeshwar Police have forgotten their Oath to uphold the Law," Adhikari posted on X. He called Banerjee a "failed chief minister" and said the state has "hit rock bottom" under her regime. Meanwhile, TMC leader and Tarakeshwar MLA Ramendu Singha Roy reportedly clarified that the family might have left the police station earlier, seemingly before the FIR was registered, in confusion over the child's medical treatment. He said that the "administration later ensured all necessary medical arrangements were made". Roy also alleged "security failure" on the part of the Railway police.