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NEW DELHI: An 11-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by an unidentified man in outer Delhi’s Narela on Tuesday. The accused has not been arrested yet.

The girl went missing while playing outside her house on Tuesday evening. Investigations revealed that she was accosted by a man probably in his mid twenties to an empty plot in the neighbourhood and assaulted. The accused then fled, leaving her bleeding from her private parts. The girl crawled to the road and lay there for about an hour.

In the meantime, her family members and people from the neighbourhood had launched a door-to-door search in the area looking for her. One of the relatives then found her on the roadside and raised an alarm.

She was rushed to a hospital and police were informed. An FIR was registered under IPC sections of rape and protection of children from sexual offences (POCSO) Act.

A manhunt was launched for the accused. Officers scanned footage of the CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity. Local intelligence was also gathered to ascertain the identity of the man. Police reportedly made a breakthrough on Saturday as they identified their suspect from one of the footages. The accused has been absconding since the incident and multiple teams are conducting raids to arrest him.

The victim’s parents are daily wage labourers and have been in a state of shock since the incident. The girl was discharged from the hospital after treatment and is being counselled.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

