3-year-old raped, murdered by juvenile in Rohini

In a shocking display of savagery, a 16-year-old youth lured a minor girl to the toilet of an under-construction site in Rohini's Narela area and raped her. Later to cover up his crime, he tried to bury her into the ground before he was caught by a guard on Thursday.

He was later handed over to the police who apprehended the accused. The police have registered a case of murder and rape under relevant sections of IPC and POCSO.

The juvenile was produced in front of a Juvenile Justice Board on Friday and, in the meantime, has been sent to a juvenile correctional home.

The incident came to light on Thursday afternoon. The three-year-old girl was playing near her house, located at an under-construction site in Narela. Her parents are labourers who work at the site and have been staying there for the past few months with their daughter and a one-year-old son.

On the day of the incident, the accused spotted the girl playing and lured her under various pretexts to an under-construction toilet and raped her. "He had raped her and later murdered her. He then tried to bury the girl and had also dug a hole in the ground to conceal his crime," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini), M N Tiwari.

Later, he was spotted by a guard and a few people digging the hole and was handed over to the police. In the meantime, her parents who were working were anxious that the girl had not returned and were looking for her for almost an hour after which they were contacted by the police and told about the unfortunate incident.

"He gave her money, is what I heard and lured her away and raped her," said the girl's father.

The police handed over the body to her parents after postmortem and have also claimed to have seized crucial evidence from the accused. Further investigation is underway.