KOLKATA -- The three-year-old girl child, who was admitted to SSKM hospital in Kolkata on Saturday with several needle injuries and a broken arm, could not be operated on Sunday as she was still in trauma, a hospital source said.

The girl, a resident of West Bengal's Purulia district, was brought to the hospital in a critical condition on Saturday evening after she was allegedly physically and sexually abused by an elderly person, who employs her mother as a maidservant.

"There are as many as seven needles forced into the child's body. The needles could not be taken out as it may cause further damage to her body. She is kept under observation," the hospital source said.

Police said they have a lodged a case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POSCO) Act against a former home guard named Sanatan Thakur, who employs the girl's mother, for abusing the child.

The incident of abuse came to light when the child's mother took her to the Bankura Medical college on Saturday complaining of a cough and cold but the doctors found out multiple external injuries in her body including those inflicted by the needles, police said.

"Accused Sanatan Thakur is still at large. All the local police stations have been cautioned about him. He needs to be interrogated to learn the motive behind abusing the child," said an officer from Purulia Muffashal police station.

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