Army Officer’s daughter molested in Kolkata:Soldier on security duty bit lips of girl playing in park, arrested 5 days later

A soldier has been arrested for allegedly molesting the minor daughter of an Army officer at a military residential complex in Kolkata on 5 November. Hastings police station arrested him on Sunday night after the girl’s mother filed a complaint. According to the complaint, the girl had gone to play with other children in a park inside the complex. The accused, who was deployed on security duty at the complex, allegedly approached her and behaved indecently with her. Police said he bit the child’s lips. The girl screamed for help, after which the accused let her go. Security staff present in the park rushed to the spot on hearing her cries. The girl narrated the incident to them and later told her mother. Police identified the accused using CCTV footage from the complex and statements recorded from the security personnel deployed at the park at the time. The girl underwent a medical examination at SSKM Hospital, and the clothes she was wearing during the incident have been seized for forensic examination. The accused was produced before a city court, which remanded him to police custody. Police are questioning him about how he reached the park while on duty elsewhere. Officers said action under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act is being considered, as the victim is a minor. The Army may also initiate departmental action, but no official statement has been issued so far.