Juna, five, was kidnapped on the day of Vijaya Dashami while returning from her mother´s parental home and found unconscious after three days. The student at the Child Development Center died in hospital in Nepalgunj and post-mortem reports have confirmed she was raped. [break]"The daughter who had gone to retrieve a bag never returned," disconsolate Kamala told human rights activists and media persons on Saturday.
"She had worn the new clothes bought for Dashain on Vijaya Dashami," she reminisced. Kamala had sent Juna back to her parents´ home around 500 meters away to retrieve a bag that she had forgotten there. Juna was abducted while returning home with the bag. "I sent her as I had chores to attend to. But she never returned," she said with misty eyes.
Juna´s father Amar said his daughter wouldn´t go far from home even to play. "I was destined to lose my daughter during Dashain," he rued. Eyewitnesses claimed Suraj Ranan, who was a guest at a neighboring house, had abducted the kid.
"He (Suraj) took Juna with him saying he would buy her biscuits and chocolates," Bishal Chandra Thakuri, a local who was with Juna while she was returning with the bag, said. Thakuri, 10, said Suraj had addressed Juna as a niece and taken her.
The villagers are now scared to even let their children go out of the home as eight-year-old Sabina Chaudhari, a resident of Khairichandanpur village in the district, was similarly murdered after rape on Thursday. "We fear to even allow our children to leave home," Ram Krishna Shah, a local of Dhadhabar, said.
The whole village is in mourning while people have been thronging from headquarters Gulariya to console the grieving parents. This is the first instance of rape of a minor in the area but locals fear their children may suffer similar fate, according to human rights activist Man Bahadur Chaudhary.
Police have yet to get hold of the main accused Suraj Rana, who is at large.
Meanwhile, police said Ram Bahdur Chaudhari of Khairichandanpur-6 confessed to raping and murdering Sabina Chaudhari. Sabina was found hanging on Thursday following rape.
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