Bhopal, Nov 1 (IANS): In a shocking incident, a four-year-old girl was allegedly raped and abandoned in a sugarcane filed in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa district, the police said on Tuesday.

It was the fourth incident of rape reported in the past one week in the state.

According to the police, the incident was reported on Monday and the victim is recuperating at a government hospital. A 25-year-old youth has been arrested in connection with the case.

The incident came to light after the girl was reported missing from her relative's house in Jaswadi village on Monday morning.

After receiving a missing complaint, the local police launched a search operation during which they found the child lying unconscious in a sugarcane field.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital from where she was referred to another hospital in Indore, said Superintendent of Police (SP), Vivek Singh.

The police had initially registered a case under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Later, they added Section 376 (rape) and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Singh said.

The police said that during interrogation, the accused youth admitted to have taken the girl to a sugarcane field where she raped her. The man had allegedly approached the victim's family on Sunday night to borrow a cot, the officer said.

On October 29, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly held hostage and gang-raped by five persons in Guna district. The accused later dumped the victim at an abandoned place.

On October 25, a 23-year-old woman was gang-raped by five men, including a minor. The victim was later dumped near an under-construction building in Tikamgarh district.

On October 19, a 17-year-old girl was raped and strangled to death in Bhind district.

On Monday, a woman was found in an unconscious state on the roadside in a posh area in Bhopal. In her statement to the police, the woman alleged that while she was on her way to her home, two men tried to overpower her. She resisted and fought against them during which she lost consciousness.