RAIPUR: A six-year-old girl was brutally tortured, raped and murdered in Durg city of Chhattisgarh late Sunday night. Her body — covered in cigarette burns, bites and scratches — was found stuffed under the rear seat of a car.
Incensed by the savage crime, the neighbourhood reacted violently and tried to burn down the house of the car owner, although he was later cleared as a suspect. Police have arrested the child’s uncle. Initial investigation indicated the possibility of more than one person involved in the rape, torture and murder.
The situation remains volatile, prompting heavy police deployment.
Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai reacted to the incident stating, “The inhuman incident with an innocent girl in Durg district deserves the strongest condemnation. It is an act that tarnishes humanity and deeply shocks a civilized society. There is no place in society for such criminals. We will ensure that the culprits receive the harshest punishment within a fixed timeframe. Necessary instructions have been given to the officials.”
My deepest condolences are with the family of the deceased girl. I pray to God for peace to the departed soul and strength to the grieving family, he said.
The little girl had gone out for Chaitra Navratri ‘kanya bhoj’ around 8am on Sunday — Ram Navami — to her relative’s place just 500 metres from her home. She never returned.
In the late afternoon, her parents got worried and began looking for her. She was nowhere to be seen in the neighbourhood. In the evening, they approached police.
Even as police teams were looking for the missing child, tension was building up in the locality. Her body was found in a car parked near her house.
Police detained four to five suspects, including the car owner. By then, locals had got to know of the savagery of the assault and a mob went on the rampage. They vandalised several cars, including the one where the body was found, and tried to torch the car owner’s house. His family had fled by then. Police took control of the situation and doused the fire.
The protests continued on Monday with the family members and relatives taking the girl’s body to the police station and staging a protest there. They demanded that the suspects be handed over to them. A brief scuffle erupted between police and protesters when three of the suspects were being taken to hospital for medical examination.
The anti-crime and cyber unit of Durg investigated the case and held a press conference on Monday evening to explain their findings. Her body was found by a driver around 7pm and sent for post-mortem.
A special team of officers interrogated the suspects and found that the girl’s uncle was giving misleading answers. Eventually, he confessed to the crime and said that he took the girl to the terrace of the house she had gone to for kanya bhoj, raped her and killed her there, say police.
He knew that a door of the car wasn’t working well. He could open it without a key and put the body there, say police. Police have charged him with rape and murder under BNS and Pocso Act.
Her parents are in shock, inconsolable and demand the death sentence.
The barbaric crime has shaken the entire state. Strongly condemning the incident, former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said, “Why is the govt celebrating ‘sushasan tihar’ (good governance festival)? Yesterday, on Ram Navami, a little girl in Durg was abducted in broad daylight and family members allege rape and murder. This is not ‘sushasan’, it’s kushasan’ (bad governance).”
Calling the incident “unbearable”, State Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla called it a “big example of the drowning of law and order”. “Since BJP came to power, women and girls have become unsafe in the state. The Durg SP should be removed, the inspector suspended and home minister should take moral responsibility and resign,” Shukla said.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
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