A madrasa caretaker was booked for allegedly touching private parts of a nine-year-old boy in an "inappropriate" manner, police said today.

The alleged incident occurred last evening when the caretaker (22) took the boy to a toilet in the seminary, said Falaknuma police station inspector P Yadagiri.

The boy, a class IV student of a private school, is learning Arabic at the seminary.

"The boy later informed the matter to his father who in turn lodged a complaint with the police," he said.

A case was registered against the accused, who is on the run, under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, said the inspector.

The incident is a bleak reminder of child safety status in India. According to a recent National Crime Records Bureau report, a child is sexually abused every 15 minutes across India.

There has been a steady rise in number of sexual offences against children in the country. In 2016, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh released a report that said that in national capital Delhi, 106,958 cases of crimes against children were recorded.

Recently, the barbaric incident of rape of 8-month-old in Delhi sparked outrage across India. The child had to undergo a three-hour-long surgery, where her injuries required stitches in her private parts.

The baby was raped by her 28-year-old cousin in northwest Delhi's Netaji Subhash Place, following which he was arrested.

The accused confessed to raping the baby on Sunday under the influence of alcohol.

The girl's parents used to go out for work and leave their daughter in the custody of their sister-in-law. Since it was a Sunday, their sister-in-law's son was at home, he said.

When he saw that his mother was not around, the accused allegedly forced himself on the baby, police said.

The girl's mother, who works as a maid, returned home around 12.30 pm. She saw blood stains on her daughter's clothes and informed her husband.

The father said he had left his two daughters "safe and sound" in the custody of their relative.

"My wife left for work around 10-11 am. When she returned after one and a half hours, she saw blood on the bed and our daughter's condition was not good," he said.