Bihar minor gang-raped, murdered

An eight-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped, brutalised and killed by three men at a village in Bihar’s Banka district, police said, adding that two accused have been arrested while hunt for the third is on.

According to the police, the girl had gone missing on Saturday afternoon from outside her house where she was celebrating Holi with her brother and other villagers.

The incident occurred at around 12.30 pm on Saturday, Banka superintendent of police Arvind Gupta told HT. “Some suspects lured her under the pretext of buying chocolates for her. They abducted her and brought her to an isolated place on an auto-rickshaw,” Gupta added.

The girl’s body was found outside the village on Saturday late evening, police said, adding that the girl’s blood-stained clothes and other evidence were recovered from the spot.

“We got a clue that one of the suspects was a resident of the same village. We detained and thoroughly interrogated him,” said Gupta. “Police later arrested second accused. After interrogation and search, we recovered the girl’s clothes. Thereafter, the accused confessed to their crime.”

“We will lodge an FIR soon. It is in the process. The accused will be charged under various sections of POCSO act and other Indian Penal Code,” Gupta said.

When the girl screamed in pain, the accused strangled her to death and dumped her body in a culvert near the railway tracks outside the village and tried to cover it with sand, a police officer said requesting anonymity.

“The girl was brutalised by the accused… it was an inhuman act,” the officer said, adding they gouged an eye of the minor.

The third accused is the owner of the auto-rickshaw used in the abduction of the girl and he too raped the girl, said another police officer, who too wished not to be named.

The girl’s father worked as a daily labourer outside Bihar, police said.

Search is on to nab the third accused, Gupta said, adding that the police are waiting for post-mortem report. “Further investigation is on,” he added.