The recent horrific incidents of rape cases against minors in the country are not coming to an end. In yet another chilling incident, an eight month old girl, who was sleeping next to her parents in Indore, was taken away and raped in a vacant basement just 50 metres away on Friday.
The accused also killed the girl after raping her. The accused was spotted on a CCTV camera carrying the baby on his shoulder. The girl’s body was found by a shopkeeper who had gone to the basement to open his shop.
The accused, a 21-year-old man, has been arrested by the police. He is been identified as a distant relative of the child’s mother.
The child’s parents, balloon sellers, were sleeping on the street outside the Rajwada Fort in the city. The accused was sleeping close to them, police said.
“The body of the infant was recovered from the basement of a commercial building. The accused had kidnapped her early today morning when she was asleep with her parents outside the Rajwada Fort,” Press Trust of India quoted HC Mishra, deputy inspector-general of police, Indore, as saying.
According to NDTV, the child’s body had injury marks on the private parts and the head.
The police, while looking for clues, scanned the CCTV cameras in the area, which led them to the accused.
“The accused is seen carrying the infant in CCTV images of around 4:45am today. He then took her to the basement of the building, some 50 metres away from where the family was sleeping, and her body was recovered in the afternoon,” Mr Mishra said.
“The infant had an injury on her head. The accused probably threw her to the ground. We are going to arrest him shortly,” he added.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to twitter to express his displeasure on the gruesome incident.
आज मन बहुत व्यथित है, इंदौर की घटना ने आत्मा को झकझोर दिया है। इतनी छोटी बच्ची के साथ ऐसा घिनौना कृत्य। समाज को अपने अंदर झांकने की ज़रूरत है। प्रशासन ने त्वरित कार्रवाई करते हुए आरोपी को गिरफ़्तार किया है। हम सुनिश्चित करेंगे कि उसे जल्द से जल्द कड़ी से कड़ी सज़ा मिले।
— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) April 21, 2018