Arrest of Rapist/Murder Sparks Protests in India

Police in India have arrested a man who raped an eight-year-old girl before strangling her to death and hacking her corpse apart to dispose of her remains.  1-year-old Kamlesh Rajput was arrested on suspicion of rape and murder after police officers investigating the disappearance of the girl discovered bloodstains by Rajput's house in Lopda village, near Udaipur city.   

Investigators later found plastic bags containing the girl's remains in a patch of isolated wasteland not far from the farm of the victim's family.  Rajput was taken into custody and later confessed to kidnapping the girl from the farm, taking her to his family home and raping her. He then admitted he strangled her and hacked her body apart to dispose of her remains.

A sea of protesters from Lopda village and surrounding towns took to Udaipur's city streets this week to demand a death sentence for Rajput and greater protections for women and girls.

Udaipur police superintendent Vikas Sharma told the Times of India: 'When [the girl] did not return home on March 29, her family members lodged a missing complaint at the Mavli police station. Since she was a minor girl we lodged an FIR and started searching for her.  Our men in plain clothes made a visit near [Rajput's] house and found blood spots. Hence, on the basis of suspicion he was detained."

"Later, we recovered the [remains] of the girl at an isolated place near his house on Saturday evening. The accused was questioned and he confessed to have kidnapped, strangulated the girl to death and later chopped off her body parts in several pieces."  Sharma added that Rajput was a 'high-school dropout' who appeared 'unperturbed' by the heinous crime he had committed.