A 40-year-old BJP leader has been arrested for raping a seven-year-old girl in Agar district of Madhya Pradesh. The accused is identified as Narayan Mali, police said.

"The accused identified as Narayan Mali runs a general store in Piplon town and was raping the child for the past two months after offering her chocolates and sweets," police said.

The accused used to rape the child in his shop and was caught red handed on Sunday following which the police were approached. He has been booked under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the POSCO Act.

MP's Congress unit has slammed the ruling party for not adopting a serious approach towards crimes against women.

"The state home minister Bhupendra Singh is writing letters to Congress state in charge Deepak Bawaria, saying the government wants to offer security to him. They have time to mock the opposition but they do not have time to think about security of women. We have seen it from Kathua to Unnao about where their loyalties are. They have always backed the rapist," state Congress spokesman Shobha Ohja told India Today TV.

Reacting to the Congress charges Bhupendra Singh said that the government would not spare the accused.

"It it our government that made a provision for death penalty for those raping minors below the age of 12 and in the recent past we have fast tracked trials and two such accused have been convicted and awarded death penalty in record time," Bhupendra Singh said.

READ | For kids' sake: The dark underbelly of child abuse

READ | 49-year-old rapes 3-year-old in Darjeeling