X-ray images showed the nail lodged inside the base of the girl’s head (Picture: SWNS)

A girl is recovering from life-saving surgery in India to remove a three-inch nail allegedly driven into her skull by a paedophile.

The seven-year-old,from a village in the state of Uttar Pradesh,was taken to hospital on May 15 with the construction nail lodged inside her head.

It had pierced her neck,passing below the jaw and through the palate into the cranial cavity,where it partially entered her brain.

The girl’s mother told doctors her daughter had been abused by a man who drove the nail into her skull in an attempt to silence her,The Telegraph reports.

Officials cited by the Times of India said the girl had allegedly been injured during a sexual assault.

The nail had travelled through the neck and palate (Picture: SWNS)

Initial local reports suggested she had accidentally fallen onto the nail while playing.

King George’s Medical University Hospital in Lucknow said specialists from multiple departments successfully removed the nail without causing any damage to the brain or critical nerves.

‘The surgery lasted for four hours as the nail had to be carefully removed while avoiding damage to the brain and sensitive nerves between the mouth and the brain’,said Prof Samir Misra,a senior faculty member in the trauma surgery department.

Dr Misra said the girl has shown no signs of neurological problems and will likely be able to live normally.

The girl is now recovering in a stable condition and doctors expect they’ll be able to discharge her in a few days.