Minor Raped And Killed By Youth In MP’s Narsinghpur District; Locals Demand Bulldozer Action

 A 22-year-old man allegedly raped an eight-year-old girl before strangling her in Madhya Pradesh’s Narsinghpur district, triggering protests by locals who demanded that his house be bulldozed, a police official said on Friday.

The accused, who had also joined the search to trace the girl, was taken into custody on Thursday, the official said.

The youth allegedly approached the girl at her school during the lunch break on Wednesday and asked her to accompany him, claiming that her father had called her home.

When she did not reach home after school hours, her family informed the police. After an eight-hour search, the child’s body was found in a ditch in a forest, about 1.5 kilometres from the village, the official said.

Superintendent of Police Dr Rishikesh Meena said that when 40 to 50 cops and about 60 villagers were searching for the girl, the accused also pretended to be looking for her.

Following inputs from some girls, the police pressed a sniffer dog into service. The canine led the cops to the accused’s home.

A large number of people gathered outside the mortuary where doctors conducted the girl’s autopsy on Thursday. Later, they gave a memorandum to the authorities demanding the death penalty for the accused, bulldozing his house and compensation for the victim’s family, the official said.

Sensing trouble, police took the body to the victim’s village through another route, he said.

The official said the case will be tried in a fast-track court.

Meanwhile, the market in the village in Gotegaon tehsil remained closed in protest over the incident. Villagers also took out a candle march.

Police have been deployed in the victim’s village to maintain law and order, considering the outrage among locals, the official said.