Man suspected of raping 8-year-old beaten to death
A man accused of raping an eight-year-old girl was allegedly beaten to death by his neighbours in the Loni area of Ghaziabad, near Delhi, on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
Police rushed both the accused — identified as 24-year-old Jitendra — and the victim to hospital. While the girl was admitted for treatment, doctors declared her suspected attacker dead on arrival. Police said Jitendra had gone to attend a ‘jagran’, a religious ceremony, in the neighbourhood with his wife and the victim around 11.30 pm on Friday. After dropping off his wife at the venue, he brought the girl back home with him and allegedly raped her.
According to the victim’s family, Jitendra was their neighbour. The locality is a makeshift ‘Basti’ of daily wagers who are mostly migrants from Bihar and West Bengal. “Jitendra’s wife took my sister along with her to the ‘jagran’ on Friday night. Around midnight, while his wife stayed back at the religious function, Jitendra brought my sister to his house and told her that he will drop her home. He took my sister to a corner outside his house and raped her,” an elder sister of the victim said.
“He gagged her mouth with a cloth. Later, when she reached home she was soaked in blood. She told us that Jitendra was the culprit.”
After this, the girl’s mother went to Jitendra’s house but he slapped her. According to the police, later, around midnight, locals of the area came to know about the rape.
They mobilised and thrashed Jitendra and he confessed that he had raped the girl. The wife of the accused also rushed back after she came to know that Jitendra had been caught by a mob.
“My husband’s hands were tied up and he was beaten with sticks and also thrashed. The family of the girl also drove a car on him in a fit of rage and tried to kill him. There were many people who were beating him badly. I was pleading, but they did not listen. They even tried to attack me and I had to run away. My husband was innocent and he did not rape the girl,” said the wife.