BAREILLY: A four-year-old girl was allegedly found murdered and her eight-year-old cousin lying unconscious 100 metres away in an orchard in Kaant area of UP’s Shahjahanpur on Monday night.
Police said the girls — hailing from a minority community — were last seen taking bath at a hand-pump at a primary school in the afternoon, nearly 500 metres from the orchard.
The unconscious girl was admitted to the Shahjahanpur district hospital, but given her critical condition, doctors referred her to a higher medical facility in Bareilly. Police said there were abrasions on her private parts and she slipped into a ‘coma’ as the accused tried to strangle her.
A member of the autopsy team told TOI, “The younger sister wasn’t assaulted sexually, but she was brutally bludgeoned to death. Her jaw is fractured and she had suffered multiple injuries on the face and internal injuries in the head. She died after slipping into a ‘coma’. It can be said that she died an extremely painful death.”
The girls’ parents — both labourers who live in a joint family — said they had no enmity with anyone in the village. They sought the arrest of the accused at the earliest. Police have booked the unidentified accused and started a probe.
Shahjahanpur SSP S Anand told TOI, “An FIR was registered against the unidentified accused under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) at the Kaant police station, following a complaint lodged by the girls’ parents. The sections for the attempt to rape and the Pocso Act will be added to the FIR after thorough investigation. We are questioning suspects and have been gathering information through our informers to identify the accused.”
Inspector general of police (Bareilly range) Rajesh Kumar Pandey said, “It appears that the accused made a bid to assault the elder sister sexually as a result of which she got abrasions on her private parts. Besides, she was found half-naked below the waist. The accused left the girl suspecting that she had died, but she was alive. She is still in a coma, but her pulse, oxygen saturation and blood pressure are now normal. We have shifted her to a private medical college in Bareilly. According to doctors, the next 72 hours are critical for her. We are praying for her.”