Minor’s rape in Chhattisgarh: Parents reject police claim implicating victim’s uncle; SIT formed (Ld)

Raipur, April 9 (IANS) The horrifying tragedy that first shook Durg town and later reverberated across Chhattisgarh has sparked a renewed debate on police action. A six-year-old girl was subjected to unimaginable horrors during a feast, known as “Kanya Bhoj”, held on the sacred occasion of Navratri and Ramnavmi.

The child was brutally tortured, raped, and murdered, leaving the community in shock and grief. The victim’s parents have expressed their dissatisfaction with the police investigation, as the authorities have implicated the girl’s own uncle (her father’s sibling) as the prime suspect.

In a brief televised conference, the grieving parents firmly stated that the uncle of the victim could not have committed such a heinous crime. They emphasised that they had always supported him and insisted he could not do such an act.

Instead, they pointed fingers at a neighbour who had been seen loitering in the area since the girl went missing.

They alleged that this neighbour misled everyone, including the police, about the child’s whereabouts, and the girl’s body was ultimately discovered in a car parked at his house.

“Why haven’t the police interrogated him?” they demanded.

Sangita Sinha, a legislator from Balod, Chhattisgarh, voiced her dismay over the handling of the case.

She accused the police authorities of harassing the victim’s family under the pretext of investigation.

Sinha claimed that family members, including an eight-year-old girl, were subjected to questioning at 2.30 a.m., further exacerbating their trauma.

The police have constituted a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a detailed probe but have remained silent on further developments following the arrest of the accused.

The tragedy unfolded on April 6 (Sunday) morning when the girl attended the “Kanya Bhoj” at a nearby temple with other children.

When she failed to return home, her family alerted the police. Despite an extensive search, her lifeless body was discovered later that evening in a car.

Doctors at Durg District Hospital confirmed her death.

On April 6, the child was allegedly molested, raped, and murdered under the jurisdiction of Mohan Nagar police station. Her body was found late Sunday night inside a car parked near the residence of a 28-year-old man.

The details are harrowing—police sources revealed that the girl’s hands were stiff, her face bore scratch marks, and blood was visible on her lips and nose.

Reports suggested she endured severe torture and was killed by electrocution.

The incident has ignited widespread outrage among locals, leading to violent protests.

Demonstrators vandalised and set fire to the suspect’s car and house, while road blockades disrupted the town.

Candle marches and protests were organised by Congress members in Durg and other cities, condemning the brutality and the “growing sense of insecurity among public”.

–IANS

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