An AC mechanic raped a 5-year-old girl inside a high-rise residential building lift while visiting to service an AC in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra.

The accused, Mohammad Akhtar Mathar Hussain (19), was arrested after the child revealed what had happened to her mother, and other residents gathered to nab Hussain after the girl bravely identified him as he was trying to flee. The incident occurred on Wednesday evening.

“Accused took the girl in a lift, while she was playing, & sexually assaulted her there. Accused is an AC mechanic & was visiting nearby flat. After the girl reached her home, she started vomiting. After being asked by her mother, she revealed the incident & her parents along with neighbours gathered outside eventually nabbing the accused before he could escape, after victim girl identified him,” said Senior Inspector Jeetendra Sonawane, of Taloja MIDC Police.

The accused spotted the child playing in the parking area of the building when he was climbing down the stairs after finishing some AC repair work. He took the girl inside the lift and sexually assaulted her there.

As per a report in Mid-Day,

“The incident took place around 7.30 pm on Wednesday at a high-rise. The girl went to the lift when the accused called her. The police said he raped her in the lift and took her to the 11th floor of the building where he stepped out and fled. The girl went to to her house on the third floor.

“At home, she started crying and vomiting. Her mother asked her what had happened, and she narrated her ordeal. Her mother immediately went downstairs and spoke to the watchman. She asked him whether any unknown person had entered the building premises…

“The watchman claimed he hadn’t seen any such person going inside the building. Hearing the commotion, many residents came downstairs to find out what was going on. The child’s mother told them what had happened and they started to look for the man. The girl suddenly saw the accused trying to sneak out of the building and shouted.

“The girl pointed to him saying he misbehaved with her. The man tried to run away but was chased and caught and brought to the Taloja MIDC police station. When he was questioned, he confessed to raping the girl…”

A case has been registered against Hussain under IPC section 376 (rape) and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. On Friday, a local court remanded him to judicial custody.

It is noteworthy that leading English-language news agency PTI’s report on this heinous crime does not mention the identity of the accused. The same PTI news feed has been carried by leading newspapers like Times Of India, Deccan Herald . Such censorship and downplaying is a standard tactic used by mainstream media as part of their ‘secular’ style-guide, with the objective of maintaining the false narrative of perpetual minority victimhood.

Any crime where a Hindu is a perpetrator and a minority is the victim is highlighted on front pages and deemed worthy of detailed ground zero reporting, even if the victim is a thief who was caught red handed like Tabrez Ansari. But the most brutal crimes involving Muslim perpetrators receive just passing mention, often buried in the inside pages or accused’s name is with-held like in this case from Navi Mumbai.