In yet another shameful incident, a three-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered in Gurugram on Sunday. The gruesome act has left city residents shocked, despaired and frustrated as children’s safety and security becomes a burning issue that is being continuously ignored by the state authorities.
The child had gone missing from her home since Sunday morning. The father works as a labourer while the mother is a domestic help. Both the parents were out for work and had left their daughter in the care of her 12-year-old brother.
It was only when the mother returned at 3pm that she found her daughter missing. She had earlier in the day, gone out to play with her friends. The parents started a frantic search for her but it yielded nothing.
According to sources, they had even approached the police, but were asked to move to another police station because of jurisdiction issues. The police, however, denies being approached at all.
Conversation with the other children brought a few dimensions to the limelight. They reported that a certain boy had lured her to go with him. He had given her a chocolate and a Rs 10 note.
On Monday morning, a group of labourers found the battered body of the child in a room near a temple in Sector 66, Gurugram. The parents, who’s hutment wasn’t far off, were then contacted.
She was lying in a pool of blood, her face was covered with polythene, and there were three bricks on her body.
Post-mortem reports reveal that she had suffered multiple injuries on her body, suggesting that she was tortured, before she was raped and killed. “Her death was caused by the head injury…she was hit with a heavy object…due to which the skull sustained a deep depressed fracture. Multiple bruises were found on the victim’s shoulders, waist, chest and back, suggesting she was tortured,” said forensic expert Dr. Mathur.
Additionally, the doctors who conducted her autopsy on Monday afternoon, have found a 10-cm-long wooden stick that was inserted inside her private parts.
The accused has been identified as one Sunil Kumar, a 20-year-old migrant labourer from Uttar Pradesh, who was visiting his mother and sisters who lived close by. He is, however, on the run and the police has formed special teams to trace and arrest him.
An FIR has been registered under IPC section 376 (punishment for rape), 302 (punishment for murder) and section 4 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault) of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against unidentified people.
A case as horrific as this, is yet again, an eye opener on the safety and security aspects in the city. According to Gurgaon Child Welfare Committee chairperson Shakuntala Dhull, 106 cases of rapes of minors have been registered with the Gurugram Police this year alone. Among them, 20 cases each were reported in September and October.