In a shocking incident, a minor girl was allegedly abducted and raped in Leh on March 29. The accused identified as Syed Zulfikar Ali Shah known as ‘Zulzul’ R/o Thiksey was arrested on March 31. 

The case is registered under FIR No. 2/2023 U/S 5(M) and 6 POCSO Act at Women Police station Leh. 

On March 29 after school time at around 4:30 pm, the girl took a lift in a Santro car driven by the accused near Jivetsal, Photang.   The man took her to an isolated place in Chuchot instead of her village where she was sexually assaulted, beaten with stones, and pushed into a rocky pit. The preparator of the crime left the child in the pit covering her with soil and stones while she was hurt and bleeding.  The child later mustered up the courage and walked towards the main road Chuchot which is around 5 km from the place of occurrence and immediately contacted her home for help.

At 20:30 hrs, Women Cell Police station Leh received a call from SNM hospital Leh stating that a girl child, 12yrs age, was brought by her uncle with bruises/injury on her head/face and hand, etc and the child was also found sexually assaulted by an unknown person.  Women Police Station Leh immediately rushed to the hospital and filed the case.

Leh Police immediately swung into action and different police teams were constituted to trace the accused person. After strenuous and hectic efforts by the police team, with the help of CCTV footage and human intelligence, the Police team was able to catch and arrest the alleged accused within 48 hours of the incident and the Santro car used for the commission of offence was also seized. 

The child further stated that she is studying in the middle class in a school in Leh and she used to hitch-hike or take the bus alone from her village to Leh/vice versa on daily basis. The accused person on previous occasions also used to give lift to the child and he knew her vulnerability as she travelled alone. 

The forensic team of district Leh collected all other important evidence which linked the accused with the commission of the crime.