5-year-old girl gangraped, slain in Bihar's Purnia

The half-naked body of a five-year-old girl who was allegedly gang-raped, murdered and buried by three youths in Purnia district was recovered by the police late on Saturday night. The body was sent to the district hospital for post-mortem and a team of forensic laboratories was called in for investigation.

Purnia SP Aamir Jawaid said two of the accused were her close relatives. Police recovered the body after the accused were arrested and interrogated based on a complaint filed by the victim's father.

The SP said that after taking some intoxicating items, the accused lured the girl out of her house. "Since two of the youths were her uncles, she easily went out with them. The defendant gang-raped and strangled the girl. To destroy the evidence, they buried the body in a pit in a corn field on the river bank. The girl had been missing from home since February 9,” said Aamir.

"The accused were brought to court on Sunday and sent to custody. One of the accused is a juvenile who was sent to house arrest," said the SP.

Charge for 24 hours in case of rape: SP

The charge will be ready within 24 hours in this case, the SP told. Two of the accused have been identified as Kausar Alam (20) and Mandal (19), while the third is 17 years old. When questioned by the police, all three accused confessed to their crime.

The incident took place on Thursday when the girl was playing outside the house with three other children. The girl's father told police that when his daughter went missing, he looked for her but could not find her.

“The kids she was playing with said she went with her uncle. When the girl's parents were asked, both the accused said nothing. The family lodged a complaint with the local police station on Friday about this," the police said.

(The victim's identity has not been released to protect her privacy under Supreme Court guidelines on sexual assault cases)