A troop of monkeys reportedly saved a 6-year-old girl from an attempted rape in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh.
The family said that the girl escaped unharmed after an unknown man lured her into an abandoned house on Saturday.
Monkeys often live alongside people in many parts of India due to habitat loss and the belief among Hindus that monkeys are connected to the demigod Hanuman. Many people in the Hindu-majority country revere and feed these animals, often found in large numbers outside temples where devotees offer them food.
The victim, a UKG student, narrated the incident to her family, explaining how the monkeys saved her, as reported by The Times of India.
The girl’s father told The Times of India that surveillance footage captured the man leading the child into an abandoned house through the village’s narrow lanes. The man attempted to sexually assault her when a troop of monkeys aggressively charged at him, forcing him to flee. The girl also mentioned that the man threatened to kill her father if she spoke about the incident.
“My daughter would have been dead by now if the monkeys had not intervened,” the girl’s father said.
Police have registered a case under child protection laws, but the assailant has not been identified, and no arrests have been made.
