According to officials, the girl had stepped out of her house on Tuesday night to watch the weekly Mangla (Ram Navami) procession. (File Photo)
After a 12-year-old girl was raped and murdered in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, when she had gone attend a religious procession in her village earlier this week, police said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the case.
Protesting against the incident, the state BJP has called for a Hazaribagh bandh on March 30 if the accused isn’t arrested.
DGP Tadasha Mishra said the SIT has been constituted to probe the case. “At present, we cannot confirm the exact nature of the offence as we are awaiting the post-mortem report. Due to ongoing Ram Navami engagements, detailed inputs have not yet been compiled, and the investigation team is looking into all aspects. I also do not have confirmed information on the condition in which the body was found,” she said.
According to officials, the girl had stepped out of her house on Tuesday night to watch the weekly Mangla (Ram Navami) procession. When she did not return, her family started searching for her but she could not be found.
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On Wednesday morning, villagers discovered her blood-soaked body in a pit located in a field within the village, triggering outrage.
According to the village head, the girl had gone to attend the procession with her family. “The procession was happening close by, and most families from the tola were there. She was with her family,” he said.
He said when she didn’t return home by 8-9 pm, the family thought she might be with friends or had gone to eat. “When there was no sign of her even after the event ended, her family and villagers searched late into the night until about 1 or 2 am,” he said.
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The next day, around 8 am, the family told him the girl was missing. “We asked them to share a photo and contact the police,” he said. Shortly after, they were informed that she had been found dead.
He claimed to have seen the body. “Her face was crushed with a stone; it was completely disfigured,” he claimed.
He added that she is survived by her parents, three sisters and a brother.
“Our preliminary suspicion is that the minor may have been lured away from the procession to a secluded spot by someone known to her,” said an officer.
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Police suspect that after allegedly sexually assaulting the girl, the suspect attempted to conceal her identity by crushing her face with a stone. Officers said these aspects are being examined and will be confirmed through the post-mortem report.
Jharkhand BJP president Aditya Sahu, along with other party members, visited the victim’s family on Friday and issued an ultimatum to the administration that if the accused is not arrested by Saturday, the party will call for a Hazaribagh bandh on March 30, which could intensify into a state-wide shutdown.
The leaders also alleged that the administration has not taken the matter seriously, claiming that neither the Deputy Commissioner, the Superintendent of Police, nor the DGP has visited the family so far.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Sahu, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, said: “This is a crime more heinous than Nirbhaya. The details are horrifying and deeply painful after we visited the village.”
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“What was even more concerning was the administration’s response, which has been highly insensitive. No senior official has visited the family in the last four days. If the accused are not arrested, the BJP will launch a state-wide agitation. We will hold a mashaal julus on March 29 and call for a Hazaribagh bandh on March 30, which can be extended across the state,” he said.
