HAPUR -- A four-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped and abandoned in Kheda village in the wee hours yesterday, police said.
Angered by the incident, villagers, demanding the arrest of the accused, protested against the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the state and blocked the NH-24.
Senior police officials reached the spot and cleared the highway for traffic after assuring the villagers of action against the accused.
The Dalit family was sleeping outside their house and at around 1.30 AM they found the girl was missing as they got up to go inside after it started raining, SP Alankrita Singh said.
The family started looking for her and found her unconscious and naked near a tubewell in a forest near the house, she said.
The girl was rushed to a private hospital in Pilakhua in a serious condition from where she was referred to Meerut, Singh said.
A rape case has been registered in this connection and teams have been formed to nab the accused, the SP said.
