Bihar: 3 minor boys rape and kill 8-year-old, booked

PATNA: In a shocking incident, three teenage boys allegedly raped an eight-year-old girl and subsequently killed her in Purnia district, police said on Monday.
Police said the girl was allegedly kidnapped by the three accused, aged between 12 and 15 years, when she had gone to her neighbour’s house to watch a TV show after having her meal late on Sunday evening. The family members started searching for her when she didn’t return home late in the night.
On Monday morning, the family members found the girl’s body lying near a betel shop under the Dhamdaha police station area and decided to dispose it off without postmortem under social pressure.However, the matter was leaked after one of the accused was heard telling his friends that he along with two other had raped the girl before she was murdered.
The suspect was detained by the local residents and subsequently thrashed. Later he revealed the name of another associate, who was also apprehended from his house. The two suspects were handed over to the Dhamdaha police but not before being thrashed in full public view. The deceased’s body was sent to the sadar hospital for postmortem.
Dhamdaha police station SHO Raj Kishore Sharma said two of the three accused, who were minors, have already been taken into custody and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, which later sent them to remand home. “Raids are on to nab the third accused, who is absconding after the incident,” the SHO said.
The SHO said the two accused, who were stated to be the deceased’s neighbours, confessed to the crime and said that they had outraged the modesty of the girl before she was strangulated to death. The victim’s father later told the police that blood stains were spotted near the place where the girl’s body was found.
“An FSL team collected blood samples from the spot. The forensic report is awaited,” the SHO added. The postmortem report will reveal whether the girl was raped before being killed.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)