Girl, eight, is gang-raped and murdered by group of boys aged 12 and 13 after being lured to secluded area while playing in a park in India
- WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT
- The girl was playing in a park when she was lured to a secluded part
- She was then raped and murdered, before her body was thrown in a canal
An eight-year-old schoolgirl has tragically been gang-raped and murdered by a group of boys who lured her to a secluded area of a park she was playing in in India.
The three boys, aged 12 and 13, killed the young girl in Andhra Pradesh's Nandyala district, in southeast India, before telling local cops they disposed of her body in a nearby irrigation canal.
She was reported missing by her father, who had not seen her since Sunday after she went to the park to play.
Police launched a formal search, questioning local residents and bringing out sniffer dogs who led the search party to the three boys, who it emerged went to school with the girl.
After police questioning, they admitted to luring her to a secure area before taking turns to rape her.
The three boys, aged 12 and 13, killed the young girl in Andhra Pradesh's Nandyala district, in southeast India (Pictured)
Fearing punishment if the girl told her parents about the horrific assault, they murdered her and threw her body in a canal.
Her body has still not been found - police have launched several teams along the nearby River Krishna to search for her body.
As a result, local police are still treating it as a missing person's case.
Women in India have increasingly faced sexual violence. In 2022, an average of 90 rapes were reported every day, according to data from the country's National Crime Records Bureau.
The actual number of sexual assaults is likely to be much higher, as many will outright refuse to report them for a lack of faith in the police's ability to properly investigate the crimes, and for fear of reprisal.
'We are seeing the worst phase of sexual violence and misogyny now,' Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties, told DW.
'This is the new India where there seems to be a complete breakdown of the rule of law, which is directly affecting women most, as it is also a period of unabashed consolidation of patriarchy.'
