The hill station of lonavla in Pune District erupted in anger over the alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl on Wednesday, with the local residents hurling stones at a prominent resort and the town observing a total bandh in protest against the incident. Trouble broke in the town in the morning after the news about the recovery of body of the victim from the terrace of Kumar Resort spread like wildfire in the town.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the resort and hurled stones at the establishment, demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits behind the incident. In an effort to quell the violence, the police resorted to lathi-charge on the rioting mob. Simultaneously, the hill station observed a spontaneous bandh, with hotels, restaurants, shops and other business remaining closed all through the day.
The protestors also staged a “rasta-roko” on the Mumbai-Pune highway for a few hours, bringing to halt traffic on the busy highway. According to the police, the victim girl – belonging to a Jain family from Indapur village in Mangaon Taluka of Raigad District —had come to the resort along with her parents for a marriage held at the resort on Sunday.
The girl went missing during the lunch hosted for the marriage party at the resort on Sunday afternoon. After a search of the hotel, the parents of the victim girl lodged a complaint with the local police.
The body of the victim girl—with her throat slit and evidence of sexual assault on her – was found on the terrace of the hotel on Tuesday afternoon. The parents suspect that the employees of the resort were behind the alleged rape and murder of their daughter.
A post-mortem conducted on the body of the deceased girl at the state-run Sassoon General Hospital in Pune later in the evening revealed that she had died on or before Tuesday and that her death had occurred due to “cut throat” injuries and there evidence of genital assault on her.
“In our opinion, death is due to cut throat injuries with evidence of genital assault. Viscera of the deceased child have been preserved for chemical analysis,” Dr A A Taware, Professor and head of the department of Forensic Medical College attached to the Sassoon General Hospital, stated in his post-mortem report.
Having registered a case of rape and murder, the lonavla Police area is investigating the case. The police had till Wednesday evening not made any arrests in connection with the incident.