The Kalaburagi district police are questioning a couple of suspects in connection with the case and hope to solve it at the earliest.
Sexual Harassment Representational Image
The Kalaburagi district police in Karnataka are grappling in the dark over a case of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl at a village in Aland Taluk in Kalaburagi on Saturday, 15 July.
“A couple of persons related to the incident have been identified and we are in the process of questioning them to ascertain facts,” Kalaburagi Superintendent of Police (SP) Isha Pant told South First.
She added: “Prima facie, the incident appears to be a case of rape and murder. We are awaiting FSL reports, which take a week’s time. After that, we will have confirmation as well as clues leading to the accused.”
She had earlier told reporters that the girl had been raped by “unknown miscreants”, and that a case had been registered in this regard under Sections 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The 11-year-old school student was the daughter of a farmer in the village. Her mother is a housewife, and she had two brothers.
Around 11.30 am on Saturday, she told her mother that she was leaving for her aunt’s house in the neighbouring village and went on foot.
There is a narrow road that connects the village they stay and aunt’s village, and she had taken that road, a senior police officer said.
The parents failed to check on their daughter that evening or the next day, presuming that she was safe at her aunt’s house in the neighbouring village.
As there was school on Monday, the parents started searching for their daughter on Sunday evening when they learnt that she had gone missing after they called the aunt. They searched everywhere in the village throughout the night, but in vain.
Late morning on Monday, someone from the village sent the girl’s father a photograph on WhatsApp of a girl’s body that was found floating in a well in their village.
The body was swollen, discoloured, and difficult to be identified. However, the girl’s brother knew which T-shirt she was wearing the day she went missing on Saturday, and identified her from it.
The body was lifted out of the well and sent to the district hospital for post-mortem examination.
The doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination told the police that the victim had lost her life at least 24-36 hours before she was found floating in the well.
“We hope to get some definite clues from the suspects, whom we are questioning at present, and we will detect the case at the earliest,” SP Isha Pant told South First.
Various organisations in the Aland taluk, learning about the incident, gathered near the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Circle in Kalaburagi and blocked roads and started protesting, sitting alongside the victim’s family members.
They also submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Fouzia Tarannum demanding the immediate arrest of the accused persons and also a decent compensation for the minor girl’s rape and murder.
The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) has also taken cognizance of the case and registered a suo motu complaint on the incident.
KSCPCR Chairman K Naganna Gowda has also written to the deputy commissioner as well as the Kalaburagi SP to take immediate steps to arrest the accused.
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