5-year-old in Gurugram was strangled after rape, reveals autopsy

GURUGRAM: The autopsy report of a five-year-old girl who was on Sunday raped and murdered, allegedly by a 22-year-old man living in her neighbourhood, revealed injuries on her mouth and in her private parts and indicated that she was subjected to savage sexual violence. The child, who had celebrated her birthday only a day earlier, was strangled after the rape, according to the post-mortem.
The accused, identified as Raj Kumar Mandal, is a migrant labourer and shifted eight months ago with his sister and their mother to a room adjacent to the one in which the minor and her family, including her parents and two brothers, aged two and 10, stayed. The girl’s father, also a migrant labourer, said Raj always used to be intoxicated and he had warned him several times not to come near his room.

On Saturday, it was the minor’s fifth birthday. Her father invited all the neighbours, including Raj, for the celebration. However, he alleged, he noticed Raj repeatedly trying to touch his daughter inappropriately and pulling her towards himself. “I warned him, after which he stopped,” he added.
The next morning, the girl’s father left home in search of a part-time job. His wife also stepped out to buy bangles on the occasion of Karwa Chauth. According to the father’s complaint, around 10am, Raj visited their house and took his daughter out on the pretext of buying her something to eat.
“We searched for hours but couldn’t find her until we reached the fields and saw him (Raj) there. He ran away when he saw us,” her father told TOI.
The couple found their daughter lying on the ground, her garments stained with blood. They rushed her to a hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.
Dr Deepak Mathur, who conducted the post-mortem at Civil Hospital, said the cause of death was ‘manual compression of the neck’ — the girl was throttled till she couldn’t breathe any longer.
Protesting villagers booked
Following the heinous attack, a group of about 30 villagers reached Bhondsi police station on Monday and blocked the road as a mark of protest. A few of them also got into a scuffle with cops.
“We assured them that action will be taken as per the law, but they asked us to hand over the accused so that they could thrash him,” a police official said.
An FIR was lodged against the locals under IPC sections 147 (punishment of rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant), 283 (danger or obstruction in public), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter the public servant), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force).
Meanwhile, the accused, who was arrested on Sunday and booked under sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 376(2) (rape) of the IPC and relevant sections of the POCSO Act and SC/ST Act (the minor was a Dalit) at Bhondsi police station, is in judicial custody. Police said he confessed to committing the crime under the influence of alcohol.
The girl’s father said the family wants capital punishment for the accused. “We want justice for our daughter. We want the man to be hanged to death,” he said.
Child Had Celebrated Her B’day A Day Earlier