Journalism of Courage
Nine-year-old girl raped and strangled to death in Pune village, neighbour arrested
Police said the accused lured the girl away from her home, took her to a location outside the village, raped her and strangled her to death.
The accused has been remanded to Pune Rural police custody for 13 days by a court on Wednesday. (File Photo)
A nine-year-old girl was raped and strangled to death in a village in Pune district on Tuesday afternoon. Police arrested the victim’s 25-year-old neighbour who allegedly lured her by offering to give her guavas. A chargesheet will be filed in the case within 15 days, Pune Rural police said.
The accused, who is a farm labourer, has been remanded to the custody of Pune Rural police for 13 days by a court on Wednesday. Sandeep Singh Gill, Superintendent of Police for Pune Rural said, “The accused lured the girl away from her home saying he will give her guavas. He took her to a location around 1.5 kilometre away from the village. The location has a sugarcane field and next to it is a water stream. He raped her at this location and strangled her to death. This incident took place around 2 pm on Tuesday. Investigation revealed that while the girl’s family was not home, she was watching TV in their house with some other children from the locality. The accused entered the house and lured her by offering her to give guavas.” The police said that the victim was nine and half years old and was a student of a local school.
Gill added, “We now know that for the last few days, the girl had not gone to school as she was not keeping well. Around 4 pm, when the family members returned from work, they realised that the girl was not home. They started searching for her in the area. Around 6 pm they informed the police. Immediately, a team from the local police station joined the search. Simultaneously an offence of kidnapping was registered at the police station, as is the norm in the case of a minor’s disappearance. During a search we received an input that the girl was seen with the suspect. The suspect was questioned. Our probe prima facie revealed he had kidnapped, raped and murdered the girl.”
Gill said, “We took the accused to the location after he gave details and the body of the victim was recovered from there. Additional sections were invoked in the case and the accused was placed under arrest. An inquest of the victim and post mortem was conducted. Family members of the victim and villagers had a lot of questions and demands related to the case. I have met them and have tried to answer their questions. I have assured them that chargesheet will be filed within 15 days. We will also conduct a speedy investigation and prosecution within the legal framework. The accused lives in a house next to the victim’s and is known to her family. He is a farm labourer and dropped out of school after Class 6. Probe suggests that after the incident, the accused returned home. Our team picked him from his house.”
Police have invoked Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita section 103 (murder), 64 (rape), 65 (2) (rape of victim under 12 years of age), 137 (2) (kidnapping from lawful guardianship), 140 (kidnapping for murder) along with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) sections 4 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault), 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault), 8 (punishment for sexual assault) and 12 (punishment for sexual harassment).
This case comes months after the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in a village of Pune district, where a special fast track court sentenced the 65-year-old accused to death, holding that the case fell in the “rarest of the rare” category.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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