Etah again: Minor raped, murdered
A minor girl was raped and murdered during a wedding ceremony in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah, police said on Friday, adding to a number of brutal sexual assaults reported across India this week.
The incident took place on Thursday night, just three days after another minor girl was sexually assaulted and murdered about 50km away, also while attending a wedding.
Police said the accused, 25-year-old Pintu Kumar, has been arrested and booked for murder, rape and concealing evidence after the nine-year-old girl’s father filed a complaint. He was also charged under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, they added.
“The girl was found missing by her family members at about 10pm on Thursday while they were attending a ‘tilak’ function in a nearby house in Keltha village
of Aliganj area in Etah district,” additional superintendent of police (ASP) Sanjay Kumar said.
“Her body was found at about 3am on Friday in a farm, 100 metres from the house after a search,” Kumar said.
The police officer added that the body of the girl has been sent for a post-mortem at the district hospital in Etah.
Police found during their investigation that Kumar, a part of the team of cooks hired to prepare food for the guests, asked for a glass of water from the girl as he was preparing to drink during the ceremony.
One of the girl’s friends also told the police that the Class 2 student was last seen with Kumar, who allegedly lured her to a shop in the village.
This is the latest in a string of incidents of rape and murder of minor girls across the country, including that of the eight-yearold girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district and Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, that have sparked nationwide outrage.
On Tuesday, a seven-year-old girl was taken away by a 19-yearold man when her family members were busy during a wedding ceremony in Galla Mandi of Etah city to an under-construction house. He then raped and later killed her to avoid being identified.
Government figures show that a child is sexually abused every 15 minutes in India. Data also shows that Uttar Pradesh tops the list in crime against children.
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