MUMBAI: A five-year-old girl was found murdered with her head smashed on an agriculture farm in Linga village in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district on Monday. While the accused is arrested and sent to police custody till December 13, at least three such incidents of crime against minors were reported from across the state over past 24 hours.
The minor’s body was found in Kalmeshwar area around 30 km from Nagpur. The girl had gone missing for around one-and-a-half-days. Police officials are suspecting it to be a case of sexual assault while the post-mortem report in the case is awaited.
A 32-year-old man, identified as Sanjay Dev Puri has been arrested for killing the minor girl. Before murdering the minor girl, the accused attempted to rape her. A case under sections 376, 363, 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act has been registered, police said.
Angry over the incident, locals resorted to protests and blocked highway early on Monday when the body of the girl was found.
Similar cases of crimes against minors have also been reported from Nashik and Beed. While in Jalna a minor girl was being lured into flesh trade, in Kolhapur district, a teenage girl hanged herself to the bell of a temple fearing the wrath of her family.
A seven-year-old girl was raped allegedly by her 27-year-old neighbour in Nashik city around 180 km from Mumbai. The accused, identified as Kailas Kokani, was beaten up by angry locals in Ambad locality and handed over to police, police have said. Kokani reportedly lured the girl under the pretext of playing with her and showing cartoons on television in his house. He then allegedly sexually assaulted her in the afternoon. The family of the girl shifted to Mahalaxmi Nagar area in Ambad only recently.
“When the girl’s mother started looking for her, she knocked on Kokani’s door to ask him whether he knew of her whereabouts. However, he didn’t open the door. His neighbours then forced him to open the door and found the girl inside,” said a police officer.
Local people then thrashed Kokani and handed him over to Ambad police who are registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, police said.
In Maunda village of Beed in Marathwada region, a minor daughter of a farm labourer couple was forcefully taken by an 18-year-old boy to his home and was raped. While the accused is absconding the girl has been admitted to hospital for medical treatment, police officials have said.
A 13-year-old girl from Jalna in Marathwada region was abducted, kept in confinement for 23 days and raped in the neighbouring district town of Hingoli for 23 days. Two women and a man have been arrested in the case that came to light when police were tracing a flesh trade network.
In Parli village of Kolhapur district, a 17-year-old girl hanged herself to temple bell after celebrating her birthday. The victim had reportedly ended her relationship with a boy from the village a couple of months back after her parents forced her to do so. However, she had invited the boy to her birthday party. On learning about this, her mother called her on mobile phone. Alarmed by the call, the girl asked her friends to leave the place and ended her life.