Ghaziabad: 7-Yr-Old Raped, Murdered, Body Hid With Pile of Bricks in Drain 50m From Home

Masuri: A horrific incident unfolded at Ghaziabad's Masuri after a seven-year-old was raped and murdered on Sunday. The minor's parents filed a complaint with the cops after she went missing on Saturday evening. The minor was last seen playing outside her house, after which she went missing.  

DCP (Rural) Vivek Yadav said the minor's parents started looking for her after it went dark by searching for her in every house in the area. The cops tried to look for her for a long time but couldn't find her. Later, on Sunday afternoon, her body was recovered from a drain barely 50 metres from her house. The body couldn't be spotted earlier as it was covered with a pile of bricks. The cops suspected the accused hit on the minor's head and later dumped her body in the drain. 

As per the postmortem report, the minor sustained injuries on her head that caused her death. Moreover, she was also sexually assaulted before she was murdered. 

The minor's father, who works as a labourer, lodged an FIR against the accused under Section 302 (Punishment of Murder) of the IPC. The cops have constituted four teams to nab the accused. 

Besides, the Supreme Court on Monday, taking note of "exceptional" circumstances permitted a 14-year-old rape survivor to undergo medical termination of her almost 30-week pregnancy, saying the welfare of the minor was of “paramount importance”.

Exercising its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution which empowers it to pass any order necessary for doing complete justice in any case, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala said, “Bearing in mind the exigencies of the situation and the welfare of the minor, which is of paramount importance and her safety...we set aside the judgement of the Bombay High Court.” 

At the outset, the bench, which took up the plea as the first item, observed, "We will allow the medical termination since she is 14-year-old and it is a rape case. This is an exceptional case." Setting aside the April 4 judgement of the Bombay High Court declining permission for termination of pregnancy, the top court directed the dean of the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital (LTMGH) at Sion in Mumbai to set up a team of doctors immediately for aborting the foetus.

While allowing the plea, the bench took note of the report submitted by LTMGH and said, "The medical board has clearly opined that the continuation of the pregnancy against the will of the minor would impact negatively on the physical and mental well-being of the minor who is barely 14 years old." 

Referring to the report, it said, "While a certain degree of risk is involved in every procedure for medical termination of pregnancy, the medical board opined that the threat to the life of the patient if termination of pregnancy is carried out at this stage is not higher than the risk of delivery at full term of pregnancy." 

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by the girl's mother challenging the Bombay High Court order declining the prayer for termination of pregnancy.

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, the upper limit for aborting the foetus is 24 weeks for married women as well as those in special categories, including rape survivors and other vulnerable women, such as those differently-abled and minors.

(with PTI inputs)