A stepmother who allegedly ordered the gangrape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in a village in the northern state of Kashmir in India was arrested on Thursday. Besides the stepmother, 8 other people, including the victim’s 14-year-old stepbrother were arrested in connection to the gruesome crime.
According to news reports, the stepmother who was jealous of the attention her husband was giving to his daughter, ordered her stepson and three others to rape the child in her presence.
The body of the girl who has been missing for 10 days since Aug 24, was found by the police on Sunday in a jungle one kilometer away from her home in a village in Kashmir. The child was tortured, her eyes were gouged out and her body was burnt with acid.
“During sustained questioning of the step-mother of the deceased and other suspects, a bone-chilling and horrible account of the rape and murder of the nine-year-old child came to be known,” the senior superintendent of police said.
The police investigation showed that the stepmother had a long-standing grudge against her husband’s other wife and her children. She further claimed that her husband spent most of the time with the other family neglecting hers.
“While she was on way to forests with her step-daughter, she signalled her son,aged 14, to be ready.He later on joined his mother in the forest area, along with two of his friends – Kaiser Ahmad, aged 19 and another, aged 14 of Trikanjan Boniyar. Accused Naseer Ahmad Khan, 28 also joined them,” the senior superintendent of police said.
He added: “It was Kaiser who first raped her and then all others, including her step-brother took turns to rape the girl. Thereafter the step-mother strangulated the girl and her step-brother hit her head with axe, killing her on spot. After that, one of the accused went back to his home and brought acid. Then the girl’s eyes were gouged out and acid was sprinkled on her body. Physical condition and preliminary forensic analysis of dead body substantiated all these facts.”
Two of the accused then dumped the girl’s body in the jungle. The police has recovered all the material and weapons (including the axe and knife used in the attack) from the accused.