Kathua rerun in Surat: 9-year-old's body found with 86 injury marks

Surat: Even as the nation struggles to come to grips with the brutality of the Kathua rape and murder case, another horrific incident has emerged from Surat. The body of an unidentified minor girl was found in Gujarat earlier this month with "86 injury marks", and officials suspect that she had been held captive, tortured and raped over a period, a police officer said on Sunday.

The body of the girl, believed be in the age group of 9-11 years, was spotted lying in bushes in a cricket ground in the Bhestan locality of Surat district on April 6 by some passersby, who informed the police.

"The police are yet to identify the girl. We have taken the help of print as well as social media, like WhatsApp, to spread her pictures with the hope that someone who knows her would identify her," said Pandesara police station inspector KB Jhala.

Ganesh Govekar, a doctor at a city civil hospital where the postmortem was conducted, said there were as many as 86 injury marks on the body of the girl.

"Going by the nature of the injuries, they seem to be caused in the period ranging from one week to one day before the recovery of the body, suggesting that the girl might have been held captive, tortured and possibly raped," said Dr Govekar.

Police have announced a reward of Rs 20,000 for anyone coming forward to give information about the girl.

The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has been roped in the investigation.

Police have registered a case under sections 302 (Punishment for murder), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 376 (Punishment for rape), and under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) against unidentified persons.