CHANDIGARH: A six-year-old girl was found murdered after a suspected sexual assault in the forest area behind the cremation ground in Hallomajra on Saturday morning, sparking protests from angry relatives and residents and leading the police to arrest a 12-year-old boy for the crime in the night.
At 7am, the body of the nursery class student was found in a semi-nude condition. Police suspect the girl was raped. Her medical examination report is awaited.
A cop said the accused had smashed her face with a stone to prevent her identification. Police have recovered the blood-stained stone.
The girl had gone missing on Friday evening. Parents said she was last seen playing outside their house around 4pm. They presumed she had gone for her tuition that starts at 5pm. However, they started worrying when her tutor said she had not come for the class. After failing to find her, they lodged a complaint at the Sector 31 police station. Police registered a case of kidnapping against unknown persons and started a search.
The boy was caught after footage from CCTV cameras showed him taking the girl away in a cycle around 5pm on Friday, said cops, who faced charges of inaction when people blocked the Chandigarh-Ambala highway for more than three hours in the evening. Around an hour later, the crime branch announced the arrest.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal said the boy was apprehended for murdering the girl. Police are interrogating him to find out if others were involved, he added. He lived in the neighbourhood of the girl. He was sent to a juvenile home.
The family has been living in a one-room rented accommodation for last three years. The victim was the eldest among three siblings. Her father works in a factory.
Police set up a board of doctors and got a post-mortem conducted. The body was later handed over to family members.