15-year-old boy held for sexually assaulting and killing three-year-old girl in Chhattisgarh

March 18, 2024 11:55 pm | Updated 11:55 pm IST - RAIPUR:

A 15-year-old boy has been apprehended and sent to a correction home for allegedly murdering a three-year-old girl after sexually assaulting her in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district.

The boy’s uncle has been arrested for concealing evidence. It is alleged that he first delayed the rescue of the girl and then abandoned the injured girl and her mother en route to a government hospital after offering to take her for treatment in his car.

The incident took place on Sunday evening at a chawl in the Sirgitti area, on the outskirts of Bilaspur, where both the families of the victim and the juvenile in conflict with law (JCL) live in close proximity.

A senior police officer said the boy took the girl to the bathroom of his house where he sexually assaulted her. When she tried to raise her voice and seek help, he allegedly smothered her to death. At that time his parents were in another room of the house and his uncle was also present there.

The girl’s mother meanwhile was looking for her and had even come looking for her at the house of the accused but was turned away by his parents who told her that she wasn’t present there. Later she was told by some neighbours that they had seen the boy taking the girl with him to his house. The girl’s mother reached there again and demanded to see the boy. His uncle however told her that he was in the bathroom, said the police.

“Then the mother insisted that the door be opened but the uncle refused. After sometime the door was finally opened by the boy and the girl was found in an unconscious state. The boy’s uncle said he would take her to a hospital in his car. They went to a private clinic where they were denied treatment following which they left for a government hospital. On the way, however, the man asked the girl’s mother to get down from the car with her child and drove away. She then made her own arrangements and went to a government hospital where the child was declared brought dead,” said the officer.

He added that based on the complaint of the parents of the girl, a case under Indian Penal Code 1860 provisions pertaining to murder and rape as well as Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered. The boy was subsequently apprehended and sent to a correction home on Monday. The uncle who has a previous criminal record has been arrested.