Stepmother had Kashmir girl raped, eyes gouged out, burnt with acid, say police

Horrific details have emerged about the case of a nine-year-old girl, whose stepmother allegedly got her raped and killed in Kashmir’s Baramulla district last week. After being raped – by her step brother and three others – she was attacked with an axe, her eyes were gouged out and acid was poured on her body, police said.

And all this because her stepmother allegedly did not like her husband paying more attention to his other wife – the girl’s mother – according to the police.

The nine-year-old girl’s mutilated and decomposed body was found in the forests of Boniyar in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district and among the nine accused to be arrested for her gang-rape and brutal murder are her stepmother and stepbrother, police said Thursday.

The girl, a resident of a local village, went missing on August 24 and all efforts to trace her failed. Her body was found on Sunday, leading to protests in the area.

Baramulla’s senior superintendent of police (SSP), Imtiyaz Hussain said as police recorded the statement of her father, it was found that he has two wives, one from a nearby village and another, who is a non-local and hails from Jharkhand. The missing girl was the latter’s daughter.

After the girl’s decomposed body was found in the nearby forests, a kilometre away from her home, an examination of the scene of crime and circumstances, made it seem like a murder and police proceeded accordingly.

“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,” Hussain said.

He said it was found that the woman had a long-standing grudge against her husband’s other wife and her children, perceiving that her husband was more inclined and affectionate towards them, and during questioning, also claimed that her husband spent most of the time with them and the girl was dearest to him among all his children.

On August 24, the step-mother, armed with a sharp-edged knife, took her step-daughter to the nearby forest.

“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,” said Hussain.

The girl was then allegedly gang-raped by the accused in presence and at the instance of her-step mother, 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,” the SSP said.

Two of the accused then dumped the girl’s body in the bushes and covered it with twigs and branches. “All the material and weapons including axe and knife have been recovered at the instance of the accused,” the SSP added.