New Delhi, Jan. 15 (TNS): A 15-year-old Dalit girl who went missing last week in the Indian state of Haryana has been found dead near a canal in Jind district, nearly 100km west of the capital New Delhi, Indian media reported on Monday.
Doctors say she was gang-raped and her body was mutilated, bringing the memory of the 2012 brutal gang rape of a medical student in New Delhi whose death had triggered nation-wide protests.
Police are questioning several people in connection with the case.
The case has brought the spotlight back on to what women’s groups call a rape epidemic in the country.
The 2012 gang rape had drawn international attention to violence against women and forced the government to introduce tougher anti-rape laws, including the death penalty.
However, brutal sexual attacks against women and children continue to be reported across the country.
According to National Crime Records Bureau data for 2016, incidents of rape of children in India increased by over 82 percent compared with 2015.
In 2016, police in India registered 38,947 rape complaints, an increase of 12.4 percent from the previous year.
