A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl, who had gone out to play Holi, was raped by an unidentified person at an Unnao village on Tuesday afternoon. She later died while undergoing treatment at a Kanpur hospital, police said on Wednesday.
The girl was found unconscious by residents. She had suffered excessive bleeding.
“Around 3.40 pm Tuesday, we were informed that a girl, who was raped, was found in a serious condition. A team of policemen reached the spot and took her to a hospital. From there, she was referred to a hospital in Kanpur and was taken in an ambulance with a life support system. Unfortunately, the girl could not survive,” said SP (Unnao) Vikrant Vir, adding that he along with Additional SP had inspected the spot where the girl was found.
“As per our investigation so far, the girl had left her house to play Holi on Tuesday afternoon. It is suspected that she was lured by someone to the spot where she was found. The place is around half a km from her house,” he said.
“The girl was first seen by a group of three or four boys who were passing by and informed the village pradhan. Injury marks suggested that the accused tried to kill by strangulating her. Either the assailant thought she had died or he panicked when he saw someone coming and fled. I have not yet received the postmortem report, but have been told that both sexual assault and killing by strangulation have been confirmed,” he added.
“We have registered an FIR against an unidentified person. We have also formed four teams under the supervision of Additional SP (North) to identify and arrest the accused,” he said.
Initially, the FIR was registered under sections 376 (rape), 307 (attempt to murder) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, but after her death, IPC section 302 (murder) was added.
The SP, meanwhile, said, “We are talking to local residents if they had seen the girl with anyone before the incident.”