SRINAGAR: The rape of a three-year-old girl in Kashmir’s Bandipora district has led to massive outrage in the Valley.
People took out protests across Kashmir on Monday to denounce the incident and demand stern punishment for the rapist.
The victim’s family alleged that the accused on May 8 evening, lured the child with candy, abducted her and then raped her in a washroom of a school.
A suspect was subsequently arrested by police and produced before a court, which placed him in police remand.
Reports emerged claiming that the principle of a local private school had issued a fake birth certificate to the accused to claim that he was a juvenile. This has further enraged the people. Sources said a preliminary medical examination of the suspect suggested he was 20 years old.
Police have constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident and have detained the school principal for questioning.
Mainstream and separatist politicians, religious parties, civil society members, traders and youth have strongly denounced the incident. PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti had earlier tweeted, “What kind of a sick pervert would do this? Society often blames women for inviting unwanted attention but what was this child’s fault? Times like these, Shariah law seems apt so that such paedophiles are stoned to death.”
Governor Satya Pal Malik has directed IGP Kashmir S P Pani to crack the case at the earliest and ensure exemplary punishment for the criminal.