Out to relieve herself, 12-year-old is raped, killed near railway tracks in Faridabad

Police said the girl lived in a slum area near the lines. Her mother works as a labourer with a private company while her father died a few months ago of an illness. A police officer said during the day, when her mother is at work, the girl would stay with her sister and her brother-in-law, who live near her house.

According to police, the incident took place around 9 pm when the girl went to the fields near the railway line to relieve herself. “She was accompanied by her sister and her sister’s friend, who waited for her across the tracks. When the girl did not return for some time, they started searching for her. When they could not locate her, they called others from the slum to find her. After over an hour, her semi-naked body was found a kilometre away in the bushes and her clothes were next to the body. Preliminary probe suggests the accused sexually assaulted the girl and strangled her when she resisted,” said a police officer.

Police said it is suspected that the accused forcibly picked up the girl and took her to a secluded place in the bushes where he allegedly sexually assaulted and killed her.

“Due to lack of washrooms in slums, people often go to the tracks to relive themselves,” added the police officer.

Police said the government railway police (GRP) received information of the incident around 11.45 pm, following which a team from GRP Faridabad rushed to the spot. The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.

An FIR was registered against the unidentified accused under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of POCSO Act.

DSP GRP Faridabad, Sudhir Taneja, said, “We received information that a girl who had gone to relieve herself near the railway lines had been murdered. There was some bleeding injury. We have registered a case of murder against unidentified accused. The body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem…”

The DSP added, “We have added POCSO section in the FIR since it is a case of a minor girl. More details will be known after the post-mortem report comes out… A probe has been initiated and efforts are to trace the accused.”

Police said the family hails from Bihar.