India: Three-year-old girl's body found in a Madhya Pradesh lake after she was raped and killed

A three-year-old girl’s body was found in a lake, on July 20, after two men allegedly raped and killed her, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The incident has caused an outrage regarding the safety of female children in India. The accused were arrested on July 21.

The incident occurred in the city of Chhindwara. The girl was playing outside her house on July 17 when she was kidnapped, police told local news outlets.

One of the accused allegedly lured the girl giving her Rs10 (Dh0.49) and took her to his house where the two men raped her. The accused then killed her, stuffed the body in a plastic bag, and threw it into the Chhota Mahadev reservoir, the police official added.

The victim’s body was found in a lake three days later. And, an autopsy revealed that she had been raped, a police official said.

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has directed the police to fast-track the trial in the case and ensure that the accused get death sentences, Indian news outlets reported.

"After investigations, we arrested Ritesh Singh Dhurve, 22, and Dhanpal, 21, on Tuesday. The duo confessed to the crime," a police official was quoted as saying.

As the news came to light, social media users reacted to the incident.

Twitter user @rb_govind highlighted the lack of safety, faced by women and girl children in the country: “What's happening in this country? Things like this keep on happening because people are not afraid of law and order. India's number one priority should be safety of women and children, forgot everything else.”

https://twitter.com/rb_govind/status/1286505391157686272

Tweep @goat_desi posted: “Where we are heading? Even little babies are not safe anymore.”