16-year-old confesses to raping toddler week before her death in Maharashtra, detained

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: The Beed district police on Thursday detained a 16-year-old boy for allegedly raping a two-and-a-half-year-old girl around a week before she drowned in a water tank near her home on March 17. The boy was produced before the child welfare committee, which remanded him to juvenile home.According to the police, the rape came to light after the autopsy revealed signs of sexual assault that had occurred over a week prior to the child's death. "Based on the medical findings, our teams contacted the toddler's parents, who were unaware that the child had been assaulted," an officer said.Beed superintendent of police Navneet Kanwat said further medical opinion confirmed the assault, prompting a fresh investigation to determine whether the child had been murdered. "Our probe established that the child accidentally fell into the water tank while playing outside her house and died due to drowning," Kanwat said.After the findings, police teams camped in the village and gathered local inputs. During the inquiry, they learned that the teenage suspect had been crying continuously and had not eaten for three days. He was brought in for questioning and subsequently confessed to the crime, Kanwat told TOI.An FIR was subsequently registered against the juvenile under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, and he was detained as per legal procedures.The officer said that they also recorded statements of eyewitnesses who corroborated the accused's confession. According to investigators, the teenager allegedly took the toddler on his motorcycle on the pretext of offering her chocolates and assaulted her at a secluded location.(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)