Neighbour lures 4-year-old with chocolates, brutally rapes and injures girl

New Delhi: In yet another shocking incident of sexual abuse, a four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a neighbour on Friday in Odisha's Balasore district.

The accused, 24-year-old man, lured the minor victim to his home with chocolates and raped her.

The child was reportedly playing outside her home at the time of the incident.

Later, the victim narrated the incident to her mother. The family rushed her to Nilagiri hospital for treatment after her condition deteriorated.

Her family lodged a police complaint on Saturday.

While the girl was sent for medical examination, efforts are on to trace the accused who is missing, said Inspector In-Charge of Nilagiri police station, Ramesh Singh.

The recent reports of rape from across the country has shocked many, with people coming out on streets to protest against it.

Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal went on an indefinite hunger strike demanding death penalty for rapists on Sunday. Maliwal launched the protest at Rajghat on Friday in the wake of the horrific rape incidents in Uttar Pradesh`s Unnao and Jammu and Kashmir`s Kathua districts.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, she said: "I will not break my anshan (fast) until the Prime Minister does not (promise) the country a better system for the safety of our daughters."

In a gruesome reminder of the Kathua rape case, the mutilated body of 11-year-old girl was recovered from Gujarat's Surat Bhestan locality earlier this week. She was likely held captive, tortured and raped over a period of time, said the police on Sunday. The case has now been transferred to the Crime Branch.