SRINAGAR: A nine-year-old girl was allegedly gang rape and murder in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district after step-mother mastermind the horrific crime.
Five people were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the incident. Two of the accused is the girl’s stepmother and 14-year-old stepbrother and three others.
Senior Superintendent of Police Syed Imtiyaz Hussain told reporters that the woman and four young men have been arrested for the gang rape and murder of the girl whose body with eyes gouged out, burnt with acid was found in the forests of Uri tehsil two days ago.
He said the victim’s father, Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai, had complained a few days ago about his daughter’s disappearance.
According to the police investigation, Ahmad Ganai has two wives; the nine-year-old was a child from his second relationship.
His first wife, Fahmeeda, would mostly work outside the house; the second wife, Khushboo, would mostly stay at home and cook the family’s meals.
The minor’s stepmother Fahmeeda had been nursing a long-standing grudge against Khushboo and her children as she felt that her husband was more affectionate with her.
Fahmeeda did not like her husband paying more attention to his other wife – the girl’s mother and, therefore, hatched a conspiracy to eliminate her stepdaughter.
On a fateful day, she took her to a jungle nearby and committed the crime along with four young men: her son, Sahil, and his friends 19-year-old Kaiser Ahmad, 14-year-old Aadil Ahmad, and 28-year-old Naseer Ahmad Khan.
On September 2, the body of the missing girl was found decomposing about one kilometer from the family home.