Lucknow, Sep 28 (IANS): An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a nine-year-old boy under Sushant Golf City police station area in Lucknow, the police said on Thursday.

“A case has been registered and the minor girl has been sent to the hospital for medical examination. The boy is awaiting an audience with the child welfare committee under the Ministry of Women and Child Development to decide the further course of action,” said SHO Atul Kumar Srivastava.

The police said that the girl begs at signals of Arjunganj near PGI, while the boy lives near Sushant Golf City area and sells balloons on streets and the two are known to each other.

On Tuesday night, they had come to a fair organised in the area.

"Later, the boy took the girl to a forest area behind Ekana stadium and allegedly raped her,” the SHO said, adding: "The girl informed her father who then filed a complaint at the police station. The accused ran away after the incident, but has been identified."

According to section 83 of the Indian Penal Code, any child aged between 7 and 12 who commits an act of offence will be granted qualified immunity, depending on the mental ability of the child, police said.