A six-year-old girl, whose body was found in a toilet at a stone quarry in Assam’s Nagaon district earlier this week, was murdered for resisting a sexual assault attempt by three boys who were addicted to watching pornographic clips, investigators said on Thursday.
All the three accused, aged between 8 and 11, were taken into custody on Wednesday while the parents of one of them were arrested for alleged criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
While the minors were produced before a juvenile justice board and sent to a remand home, the parents were remanded to judicial custody by a local court on Thursday, the investigators added.
Police said the girl’s body, with injury marks on her head and chest, was found in the toilet of a non-functional stone quarry in Kaliabor area on Monday hours after she went missing from home.
Preliminary probe indicated that the minor was hit with a blunt object. While a post-mortem report is awaited, prima facie it appeared to be a case of physical assault and molestation but not rape, police added.
“On Monday, the three minors took the girl to the quarry and tried to molest her. When she resisted and threatened to complain against them, the minors hit her on the head and chest with a stone which resulted in her death. The minors then hid the body in the quarry’s toilet,” Mrinmoy Das, a sub-divisional police officer, said.
{{/usCountry}}“On Monday, the three minors took the girl to the quarry and tried to molest her. When she resisted and threatened to complain against them, the minors hit her on the head and chest with a stone which resulted in her death. The minors then hid the body in the quarry’s toilet,” Mrinmoy Das, a sub-divisional police officer, said.
{{/usCountry}}“The security guard of the quarry told us the victim’s body was first spotted by the minors. The boys said the body was removed from the spot by the guard. When we questioned the guard again, he said the crime was committed by the minors,” he added.
Police said the accused minors were the son and nephew (both aged 11) of the guard, and another eight-year-old who lived near the victim’s home. The girl’s mother had passed away and she used to stay with her father, a daily wager, and her grandmother.
Investigators said the guard had purchased a smartphone for his son to attend online classes but the child, along with the other accused, started watching pornographic clips instead. The phone’s browsing history confirmed the same, they said.
It was learnt that the accused used to molest other minor girls as well, police said.
A case under section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code has been registered and more sections are likely to be added after approval from court, they said.