Reports of a 7-year old minor girl being allegedly raped, killed and her body dumped on a mosque’s terrace have surfaced. The girl who was missing since Saturday afternoon was found dead on the roof of a mosque in Muradnagar, Ghaziabad on Sunday morning. Her body found inside a gunny bag. The family of the girl has accused the local councilor and his 3 accomplices for her murder.
The girl was reportedly last seen on Saturday afternoon. CCTV footages had revealed that she was last seen near the local mosque. An FIR was registered against unknown persons under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC. A set of rooms inside the mosque was occupied by Qadir Kasmi and his family. According to him a few of the locals had searched the terrace at 2 am in the night but they didn’t find anything. Another local resident, Sultan, climbed to the terrace on Sunday morning to scare away the monkeys. He found the girl’s feet protruding from the gunny bag. He informed the police and the locals of the dead body.
The family has accused local councilor Haji Aizaz and his elder brothers Naushad, Afzal and Izhaar. Aizaz is the sitting councilor of ward number 25 of Muradnagar municipality. According to the sources, the girl’s relative had unsuccessfully contested against Aizaz in the urban local body elections last year. Aizaz and his brothers were allegedly nursing hatred against the family since then. “Aizaz and his brothers were miffed against us since we never voted for him. There is political enmity between our families. Three months ago, his sons had thrashed a cousin of mine over a minor quarrel following a spat on Whatsapp. A case had been registered against them.” the father of the child had stated.
Tensions in the area have sparked as the body was found in a Mosque. Police personnel have been deployed in the area to suppress any escalation in the situation. Aizaz and his brothers have been absconding since the FIR was lodged in the police station. Their home was locked on Sunday. SSP Ghaziabad, Vaibhav Krishna has said that the girl was allegedly raped before being strangulated to death as per the post-mortem report. “An autopsy has been conducted. There were abrasive injury marks on her face and head. Prima facie, the girl has been strangled to death and body put on the terrace of the mosque. The accused are untraceable at the moment. We are ascertaining the veracity of the allegations.” he said.
There has been a steady rise in the crime against the minors. In Ghaziabad itself, a 10-year old minor girl was raped by a Muslim cleric in a madrasa. In another shocking incident in March 2018, Mohammad Shadan was arrested for raping a minor girl in a religious place. Three criminals were arrested for raping and murdering minors in Punjab in June 2018. In another case, two youths Salim and Zafar were arrested in Uttar Pradesh for raping and abandoning a minor girl.
