The mutilated body of an 11-year-old was found with as many as 86 injuries in Gujarat’s Surat. “Eighty-six injuries were found on her body, including ones on her private parts,” said the forensic head of Surat Civil Hospital, as reported by news agency ANI. The case has been handed over to the crime branch.
Days after the incident came to light, Satish Sharma, Police Commissioner, Surat said, “The victim has been identified. She is from Andhra Pradesh and went missing in October last year. After the news went viral and posters were put up in various cities, the Andhra Pradesh police identified her parents following which they arrived in Surat. Their DNA test will be conducted soon.”
The body of the child was recovered by the police on 6 April at a ground in Surat's Bhestan area. A post-mortem report revealed that she was raped and tortured for at least eight days and later strangled to death, ANI added.
An FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons under Sections 302 and 376 of the IPC and under relevant sections of POCSO.
Victim Was Given Food and Water During Captivity
Sources at Surat Civil Hospital claim that looking at the severity of the injuries and the age of the victim, it seems that she was help captive in an isolated location where she was tortured and raped.
“Samples have been taken for forensic tests to ascertain whether she was drugged or not,” Ganesh Govekar, Forensic Head, Civil Hospital told the news agency.
The autopsy lasted for five hours. During her time in captivity, the victim received food and water as we found 50 ML liquid in her stomach. She has 86 external injuries and was assaulted with a wooden stick all over her body. We realised that she was killed 24 hours before she was brought for post mortem on 6 April. She has also suffered severe internal injuries.Ganesh Govekar, Forensic Head, Surat Civil Hospital
According to local sources, Bhestan area, where the body was found, is quite close to a cricket ground where children played till 11 pm on the night before the victim’s body was found.
The incident comes at a time when the nation is outraged over the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua, and another rape in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, in which BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is accused.
Victim's Origins Were Untraceable for a Long Time
Surat Police Commissioner Satish Sharma on Sunday, 15 April, faxed details of the victim to all DGPs across the country. Sources claim that the city police are checking mobile data and CCTV footage, but were not able to make any breakthroughs.
The police had declared a Rs 20,000 reward for information on the identity of the victim.
We have declared a Rs 20,000 reward for information in this case and over 1,200 pamphlets have been pasted all across Surat. We have checked over 8,000 names in the missing children data. We suspect that the victim hails from Odisha or West Bengal. As the body was found 1½ km away from the National Highway, we also suspect that the perpetrators are not from Surat and dumped her body in the area.Satish Sharma, Surat Police Commissioner said earlier.
There were initial guesses that the victim was from Odisha. Surat's ACP (Crime) RR Sarvaiya said the police had scanned the missing children's data of several states, including Odisha and West Bengal, the two states the police believe the girl most likely belonged to.
The Quint is now on WhatsApp. To receive handpicked stories on topics you care about, subscribe to our WhatsApp services. Just go to TheQuint.com/WhatsApp and hit Send.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)