‘Raped & killed’ minor girl’s body exhumed in Sahibganj

Dumka/Ranchi: Police on Tuesday exhumed the body of a 13-year-old girl, who was allegedly gang-raped, killed and buried in Sahibganj without conducting a post mortem or filing an FIR, for a medical examination after getting a tip-off over the social media.
Opposition BJP took an opportunity to attack the Hemant Soren government over the incident ahead of the twin bypolls in the state. The area where the crime took place falls in Barhait, represented by chief minister Hemant Soren.
The alleged crime occurred on October 9 (Friday) but police filed an FIR on Tuesday while initiating a probe formally. Four persons have been detained based on the statement of the victim’s friend.
According to Sahibganj SP Anuranjan Kispotta, parents of the victim had buried the body on the outskirts of their village, Lakhipur, after the girl's body was found abandoned near their house under Ranga police station on Saturday morning.
He said, “The victim along with her friend had gone to neighbouring Taljhari village to meet their friends on Wednesday last week. While returning on Friday, they were intercepted by a few youths on the way. The victim’s friend managed to escape.”
Kispotta further said, “On Saturday, her body was found lying on a pavement of an under-construction house in the neighborhood. Her parents later buried her.”
The SP said after getting the information about the crime, he sent a police team to the village on Monday evening and decided to exhume the body under the supervision of a magistrate for a medical examination. “We have started interrogating the four suspects,” he added.
Unconfirmed reports said the victim’s parents were allegedly pressurized by the local panchayat to dispose of the body against their wishes. The reports also claimed that the parents had tried to lodge an FIR of rape and murder with the Ranga police station on Saturday but was not accepted.
DC Ramnivas Yadav told TOI that the role of the local police station and the village panchayat in the crime will be investigated. “We have learned about the role played by a few panchayat members to force the parents to bury the body without informing the police. At the same time, we will also probe the role of local police,” he said.
Reacting to the incident, BJP said lawlessness in the state, especially in terms of crime against women and children, is increasing under the coalition government.
The party has appealed to governor Droupadi Murmu for her intervention into the incident and accused the state government of trying to cover up the crime.
Senior BJP leader Babulal Marandi said, “The victim’s parents had gone to Ranga police station to file a complaint but were made to return by telling them to sort out the issue with the panchayat. They were finally forced to bury the body after getting no help from anywhere.”
Demanding Murmu’s intervention, the party’s state president, Deepak Prakash, said, “The girl’s father in his statement has clearly said that his daughter was raped and killed, yet the police did not file an FIR. This is not an isolated incident of crime in Barhait, the CM’s constituency. Women in the entire Santhal Parganas are terrified and shocked by this incident,” he said.
BJP’s Ranchi mahanagar unit also took out a candlelight protest against the incident at Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi on Tuesday evening demanding justice for the victim.
(With inputs from ASRP Mukesh in Ranchi)