The father of an eight-year-old girl who was allegedly abducted and raped in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, has demanded capital punishment for the accused, ANI reported. A Bharatiya Janata Party leader, meanwhile, offered Rs 5 lakh to anyone who beheads the perpetrators.
The state police formed a Special Investigation Team on Saturday to investigate the case.
The girl, who is in a hospital after the incident, is now recovering, and doctors said she is out of danger, The Indian Express reported. “I do not want any compensation,” the girl’s father told ANI. “I just want the accused to be hanged till death.”
Archana Chitnis, the state’s women and child development minister, said the government had transferred Rs 5 lakh to the father’s account and an investigation was being conducted. She also said the government would take care of the girl’s health and education.
“We are investigating the matter with topmost priority,” Mandsaur Chief Superintendent of Police Rakesh Mohan Shukla told ANI on Saturday. “An SIT has also been constituted. The second accused has also been sent to police remand. We are doing everything to get them the punishment they deserve.”
Police have arrested two persons for the crime. The main accused, Irfan, was arrested on Wednesday using footage from a CCTV camera located between the girl’s school and the spot where she was found in the bushes earlier that day. An accomplice, Asif, was arrested on Friday.
The child had gone missing from her school in Hafiz Colony locality on Tuesday.
Parents of both accused denied the allegations but said they should be hanged if they committed the crime, according to The Indian Express.
Several state board schools were closed on Saturday amid protests against the incident.
BJP leader Sanjeev Mishra demanded capital punishment for the accused, and said: “If court or administration is not capable of doing it, I have said I will give Rs 5 lakh to the person who beheads the accused and gets his head.”
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had on Friday said rapists were a “burden on the earth” and do not deserve to live.
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