4-Year-Old Girl Allegedly Raped, Killed By Distant Relative; Body Found On Rail Track

A 4-year-old girl in India was allegedly raped and killed by her distant relative Saturday. The incident has led to protests in the state of Bihar, with people demanding death penalty for the accused.

As part of the protests, residents in the city of Gaya blocked a national highway for nearly two hours on Sunday.

"As locals thrashed the accused, he is undergoing treatment at a hospital. He will be sent to jail after being discharged from the hospital. Trial in the case will within one week," senior police officer Rajkumar Sah told The Times of India.

On Saturday, the family of the child started searching for her when they could not find her at home. After a while, her body was found on the rail track.

"People caught the accused from the vicinity of the railway station. When he failed to provide any information about the girl, they thrashed him," police sources told local media outlet Hindustan [Google Translation showed]. Media reports claimed the accused was a rickshaw puller.

The body of the victim has been sent for an autopsy, the police said, adding an investigation was underway into the incident. It remains unclear where the unidentified man raped the girl. Charges against the accused have not been revealed.

In 2019, the National Crime Records Bureau reported of the 32,559 rapes reported in India in 2017, in which 93.1% of the accused were known to the victims.

Last month, a 13-year-old boy was taken into custody after he was found raping a 4-year-old girl on the terrace of a home in the northern city of Ludhiana. The victim had been living in a rented accommodation with her parents for the past six months. “Recently, one of our relatives, along with his wife and son, took a room on rent near our house,” the victim’s mother said at the time. “On Saturday, their son, who is 13-year-old, took my daughter to the terrace." When the parents went to check on the children, they could not find them. "Suspecting something wrong, me and my husband went upstairs and we were shocked to see that the boy was raping her,” the mother said.