In a heart wrenching case that has shaken the conscience of the society at large, a 3-year old girl was reportedly abducted from platform no. 1 of the Tatanagar Railway station in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and thereafter the duo brutally raped the toddler at the Telco police station area and beheaded her in the intervening hours of July 25 and July 26. The brutal and inhuman culprits identified as Rinku Shah (36) and Kailash Kumar (38) stuffed the beheaded body of the three year old girl in a plastic bag and then dumped it behind a wall in the wee hours of July 26. The three year old victim girl was kidnapped by the two accused when she was sleeping by the side of her mother and another passenger who was travelling with them.
The victim’s mother, who woke up a little later, found that her daughter was missing and lodged a complaint with the Tatanagar GRP (Government Railway Police). The police came into action after a case was registered under Sections 366/372/120(B) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It became clear from the CCTV footage of the Railway Station that two persons had abducted the three year old girl. They were identified and arrested on July 29, around three days into the case. The duo has reportedly confessed before the Police about the rape and murder, and also informed the police where the headless corpse was. However, they were not able to explain where the three year old girl’s head is.
Sources have revealed that one of the rapists, Rinku Shah, has a long criminal record. He is a serial offender and was accused in two separate cases of sexual assault lodged against him in the years 2008 and 2015. Deputy SP of GRP (Tatanagar) N M Ansari said, “He was in jail for two years for the 2015 case and has been out of prison on bail since last year.” Superintendent of Police (Railway) Ehtesham Waquarib said that sniffer dogs have been pressed into service to trace the head of the mutilated 3-year old victim.
The mother of the rape and murder victim has reportedly told the police that she suspected her partner, who was travelling with her and her daughter- was also involved in the crime. He is the third person to be arrested in this case.
The maximum punishment under the POCSO act for such a crime is the death penalty. Many on social media have expressed anger and sadness over this heinous rape and decapitation of a three year old and have demanded that the murderers be sent to the gallows.