Uncle, 25 rapes toddler niece, hangs self

Pilibhit: A 25-year-old man hanged himself to death after raping his two-and-a-half-year-old niece when she was playing on the roof of her house adjacent to the accused's house at a village in Pilibhit district on Thursday evening.The accused lured the toddler on some pretext and raped her. As the little girl cried in pain, the uncle played loud music to muffle her cries, but still her parents heard her cries of pain. They rushed to the roof and found her bleeding profusely.On seeing the parents, the accused fled. After about an hour, he returned home and hanged himself.The survivor was taken to the nearby community health centre, from where she was referred to district women's hospital.Chief medical superintendent of district hospital Dr Rajesh Kumar told TOI that the victim was bleeding excessively and had a small rupture in her private parts, and her condition was stable."This indicated that the accused possibly left her for fear of being caught when she screamed soon after the initial rape attempt. Otherwise, the victim would have sustained a severe rupture had she been subjected to complete penetrative sexual assault. This could have posed a threat to her survival," Dr Kumar said.Following a written complaint by the victim's father, a case was registered under BNS section 137(2) (kidnapping) and 65(2) (rape of a woman under 12 years of age), in addition to Pocso Act's sections 5m (penetrative sexual assault on a child below 12 years) and 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault).The man's body was sent for autopsy, said SHO Gautam Singh.