Mandsaur rape case: Police records 8-year-old victim's statement, says will file chargesheet this week

Indore: Police recorded the statement of the eight-year-old girl, who was gang-raped on 26 June in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur, late evening on Thursday, a senior official said. Mandsaur Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Kumar Singh told PTI that police recorded the victim’s statement on Thursday in the presence of a woman officer. He added that the police would try to file a charge sheet in court this week. The authorities at Indore’s Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital (MYH), where the minor is undergoing treatment since 27 June, earlier on Thursday permitted the police to record her statement. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that every possible effort would be made to ensure the death penalty for the two accused. [caption id=“attachment_4649621” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A candlelight march seeking justice in the Mandsaur case. Pallavi Rebbapragada/Firstpost[/caption] Chouhan reached MYH in the evening to enquire about the health of the victim. He said that the girl’s condition was improving rapidly, adding that his government would take responsibility for the child’s education as well as other expenses. “The accused have disgraced humanity by raping the girl. We will complete the legal process as soon as possible and will make every possible effort to ensure that the accused are sentenced to death,” he said. He called the two accused “burden on earth” and said that they have no right to live. Values needed to be promoted in society in order to curb incidents of rape, he said. “These days, young boys take the wrong turn after watching porn movies. We will try to create awareness against such movies. Issues related to the honour of daughters would be included in the school curriculum,” Chouhan asserted. Earlier in the day, MYH Superintendent VS Pal had said that the girl had come out of mental trauma and she was happy and was talking to her family members. He said that psychiatrists were regularly counselling the girl and she was shifted out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on 3 July. On 26 June, the girl was abducted by two men, while she was waiting for her father outside her school, and gang-raped. The minor suffered severe injuries to her neck, face, head and private parts in the incident, doctors treating her had said. Accused Irfan alias Bhaiyu (20) and Asif (24), both of whom were later arrested, were charged with raping the girl and trying to kill her by slitting her throat. Relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were invoked against them.