Child abuse
[Representational image]REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Police have nabbed a 45-year-old man who kidnapped, attacked and sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl when she was out buying paan for her grandmother in Jogeshwari near Mumbai.

The incident happened three years ago! And the surprising fact that owns this case is the technique used to unfurl the identity of the accused.

Forensic odontology – a rarely used method where dental evidence is used for evaluation of the case and the report is presented for justice.

The victim, in this case, was unable to identify the accused as he had covered his face while committing the crime.

But the medical and odontology reports helped a special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) to sentence Shrinivas Saryadu guilty of his act.

About the report

The court was told that the doctor, who had prepped the odontology report, was one of the two forensic odontologists in the country.

The court said that the doctor had used 'computer-based comparison technique.'

Odontologist at work
Odontologist at work [Representational image]Creative commons

The report revealed that the bite marks on the victim's lips matched the teeth pattern of the accused.

Taking into account the point that each person's teeth pattern is unique, Saryadu was sentenced to 20 years in jail, the Times Of India reported.

The court played the same cards that it did in the well-known Nirbhaya case (the Delhi gang-rape case of December 2012).

The incident

The victim's father had dropped her at her grandmother's place and left for work on July 4, 2014. The parents of the victim are divorced and the victim and her sibling lived with her father.

The father, speaking in front of the court, recalled that when he returned home to pick her up at 9 pm that night, he got to know that the girl had been missing for a while. The worried father lodged a complaint with Meghwadi police.

The next morning, the victim was found in Aarey by some woman who was on her way to work. The woman told the court that the child did not have any clothes and her lips were swollen and bleeding.

The victim said that the man had also snatched Rs 10 with which she had to buy paan. Not only did he drag her by her neck to the woods, he also threw her in the water.

It was also found that the accused was reported missing when he did not get back home on the night of July 1, 2014. Further probe revealed that the man had been accused of trying to attack women.

The man was traced on July 17 in Andhra Pradesh and was brought back to Mumbai, post which his teeth impressions were taken for the test.