Rajasthan: Third standard Dalit girl raped, strangled to death

An eight-year-old minor, who had gone missing, was found dead in the Jhalawar district of Rajasthan, said the police officials on Wednesday.

The Dalit girl is suspected to have been strangled to death after being raped. Her body was found in a mustard field near her house today.

The deceased, a Class III student, was missing since Tuesday night. Prima facie, the girl was strangulated and she was also raped, a police officer was quoted as saying by DNA. She lived with her maternal grandparents in a nearby village.

There were, however, no visible marks found the girl’s body except for a slight scratch on her chest, said Station House Officer (SHO) Radha Kishan.

According to reports, the girl had gone with her friends to graze her cattle after returning from school. But when she did not return home till late evening, her family members had started searching for her.

Next morning her body was spotted in a mustard field about 200 to 300 meters away from the girl’s home, added a police officer.

A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he added. The body was later handed over to the family members after the completion of post-mortem.

Police suspect a youth of the same village, who attempted suicide by holding live wire on the same morning, minutes after the girl’s body was found. The 20-year-old boy was, however, rescued on time and is currently hospitalised. he has not been interrogated as yet as he is unconscious.

The suspect, say police, was spotted near the minor girl on Tuesday late evening and he was in a drunken state.

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