A 12-year-old domestic help who was allegedly burnt alive by her employers on April 22 was pregnant, the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) has said.
The girl, a tribal from central Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district was working at the house of Prakash Borthakur of Khaighar village under Raha Police Station in the adjoining Nagaon district.
Police arrested the 70-year-old man and his 25-year-old son in connection with the alleged murder. The employer allegedly did not let her go home for a long time.
In a statement on Saturday, the ASCPCR cited the Borthakur family’s neighbours as saying that the victim was sexually abused and had become pregnant.
“It has been also informed to the Commission that the victim child was physically and mentally abused regularly by Barthakur,” the ASCPCR said, adding that the girl’s body was sent for post mortem before her parents could reach the spot.
The commission directed Nagaon’s Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police to investigate the case on fast-track mode and prepare the charge-sheet by incorporating relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, besides the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
Various organisations had gathered outside the residence of the accused and demanded justice for her on Friday after the girl’s charred body was recovered.
Assam’s Director-General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said the initial inspection pointed to the girl having been “murdered and then burnt”.
