Another Kathua? 11-year-old found dead in Surat with 86 injury marks

The body of an unidentified minor girl was found from Bhestan locality in Gujarat's Surat earlier this month with "86 injury marks" and officials suspect that she had been held captive, tortured and raped over a period of time, a police officer said today.

The body of the 11-year-old was spotted lying in bushes in a cricket ground in the locality on April 6 by some passersby, who informed the police.

"The police are yet to identify the girl. We have taken the help of print as well as social media, like WhatsApp, to spread her pictures with the hope that someone who knows her would identify her," said Pandesara police station inspector K B Jhala.

Ganesh Govekar, a doctor at the city civil hospital where the postmortem was conducted, said there were as many as 86 injury marks on the body of the girl.

"Going by the nature of the injuries, they seem to be caused in the period ranging from one week to one day prior to the recovery of the body, suggesting that the girl might have been held captive, tortured and possibly raped," said Dr Govekar.

Police have announced a reward of Rs 20,000 for anyone coming forward to give information about the girl.

The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has been roped in the investigation.

Police have registered a case under sections 302 (Punishment for murder), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 376 (Punishment for rape), and under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) against unidentified persons.