Bhubaneswar, April 22: A six-year-old girl was raped in Odisha's Cuttack district, following which a man has been arrested, police said on Sunday.
The girl is in critical condition and admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after she was found unconscious in a school compound in Salipur area on Saturday night.
Accused Mohammad Mustaq, a neighbour, had been arrested in the case, police said.
The girl was reported missing after she went to a shop near Jagannathpur Nodal Upper Primary school to buy chocolates around 6 p.m. on Saturday. As she did not return home, her family searched for her but to no avail.
Later, she was later found unconscious in the school around 7.30 p.m.
"The accused lured her away with a chocolate. After raping her on the school premises, he attempted to kill her by throttling her," Salipur Sub-Divisional Police Officer P.K. Jena told IANS.
Health Minister Pratap Jena visited the hospital.
"A team of 13 doctors has been set up to treat the girl, who is in the Intensive Care Unite. Whether the girl was raped or not will be known after reports are received from various departments. However, the girl has several injuries on her body," the Minister said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
