A man has been arrested for allegedly raping a 5-year-old girl inside the US embassy in India, according to local reports.
The girl, whose parents work for the embassy’s housekeeping staff, was lured to the staff living quarters and assaulted on Saturday, New Delhi police told the Hindustan Times.
A 25-year-old local driver, whose father also works for the embassy among the support staff, was arrested on Sunday, the reports say.
“He noticed the girl playing outside her house. He lured her to his own house and raped her there,” a senior police officer told the Hindustan Times.
The girl was examined the following day and the medical test confirmed rape, the officer said.
The suspect, who has not been identified, continued working after the alleged attack.
“The suspect didn’t even expect that the girl would inform her parents or that anyone would approach the police,” the officer said. “He wasn’t expecting that his crime would lead to police action.”
The US embassy told India Today it was “deeply disturbed by the alleged misconduct.”
“We promptly took action when we were informed of the allegation, and brought this matter to the attention of the police,” the embassy said, saying it was “cooperating fully” with the police investigation.
If convicted, the suspect could face the death penalty under strict new laws passed in 2018 following a series of high-profile, shocking attacks in the country, the BBC notes.
The US embassy there is spread over 28 acres and is “one of the largest US diplomatic missions in the world,” according to its website, which notes that “architect Frank Lloyd Wright called it one of the finest buildings in the last hundred years.”
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