The minor was playing close to the place where the three-wheeler was parked (Representational)
A five-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by an auto-rickshaw driver who took her on a joyride and dumped her at a secluded spot, battered and bruised, police said in Bihar's Darbhanga on Saturday.
The incident took place in Kharua More locality of Sadar police station area late on Friday night and the girl, who fell unconscious following the alleged sexual assault, is undergoing treatment at a hospital while the accused has been arrested, said Babu Ram, Senior Superintendent of Police.
He said the girl was playing with another 3-year-old close to the place where the three-wheeler was parked and then they got onto the vehicle.
The driver started the vehicle, telling the girls that he would take them for a joyride but soon dropped the 3-year-old at a nearby spot before allegedly raping the survivor at a secluded spot, the officer said.
The incident, comes at a time when the charred bodies of unidentified women, dumped after suspected rape and murder, recovered from Buxar and Samastipur districts earlier this week, sparked widespread outrage.
While Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi evaded queries from journalists in Patna about the incident, RJD leaders Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav vented their ire at the senior BJP leader and at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over rising incidence of crimes against women.
Mr Prasad, who is in Ranchi serving sentences in the fodder scam cases, shared the video clip of the deputy chief minister refusing to answer queries with a suggestive caption -- "Sush-ill Modi".
Rabri Devi, his wife, and Tejashwi Yadav, his younger son, tweeted accusing the state government of shielding culprits of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal, which they claimed, has emboldened those with a proclivity to engage in sexual crimes.