Father strangles pregnant rape survivor, 17, to death and buries her secretly to 'preserve family honor'
A father strangled his teenage daughter to death in her sleep after he discovered that she was carrying her rapist's child. The harrowing incident took place in Mantoli village in India's northern Uttarakhand state. The police said they suspect that the 17-year-old victim was raped before being murdered by her father to preserve the "family honor." While escorting her on a hospital visit last week, the grandparents of the girl discovered that she was pregnant.
After finding out this, the father of the victim turned up at the grandparents' house where the girl was living. However, he left the house without inflicting any violence the first time around. He returned to the house at 5 am and ended up strangling the girl as she slept.
After he allegedly murdered the victim, he told the neighbors that the girl had killed herself out of embarrassment and he had already buried her body. "We had been informed by the hospital on Tuesday that a teenage girl was pregnant," circle officer Suneeta told The Times of India. "Therefore, it could be a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. However, when we enquired the next day, we found out the girl was already dead and buried."
The investigators exhumed the body of the girl and interviewed the grandparents. "We have taken the DNA sample of the fetus, and are investigating who raped the girl," Suneeta said. "The investigation is on and the culprits will be caught soon."
According to recent official data, some 40,000 rapes reported in India in 2016. However, social activists have claimed that the actual number of rapes in the country is much higher than the number mentioned in the official report as most of the victims do not report the crimes either due to threats by perpetrators or the social stigma attached to sexual assaults. Under public pressure, in 2018, the Indian government gave in and approved capital punishment for repeat offenders as well as convicts who rape children under the age of 12.
The recent case came a couple of weeks after a 14-year-old girl was burned to death after fighting off two rapists. She was set ablaze after her attackers became enraged at her resistance. The girl suffered burns on 80 percent of her body and was admitted to hospital in Raipur, the capital city of central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The middle school student told the identities of the perpetrators lying on her death bed in the hospital.
Also in May, the body of a four-year-old girl was thrown in a well after she was raped and murdered in Chhatarpur, a district in Madhya Pradesh, India. “The villagers spotted the body in the well on May 29. Post mortem report has suggested rape and homicide of the girl,” Chhatarpur district superintendent of police Kumar Saurav said, Deccan Chronicle reported. “Police was yet to identify the accused. A reward of Rs 10,000 has been announced to the person who can provide clues leading to arrest of the culprit” he added at the time.