The post-mortem has confirmed that the girls were raped and then murdered. PHOTO: AFP
The bodies of the three schoolgirls were found last week, two days after they went missing on February 14 from their home in the Bhandara district of Maharashtra state, police superintendent Aarti Singh told AFP.
"The bodies of the three young girls were found in a well, with their schoolbags and footwear," Singh told AFP by phone from Nagpur, adding they were aged six, nine and 11.
"The post-mortem has confirmed that the girls were raped and then murdered."
No arrests have been made but Singh said four people had been detained for questioning and investigations were still under way.
Family members said the girls had gone out to look for their mother who was out of the house and no one heard from them again.
The incident led to protests by villagers, Singh said, echoing angry rallies in the capital New Delhi after the brutal gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in December.
That incident sparked a nationwide debate about the treatment of women and girls and their safety in India.
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@John B: This is no excuse against criminal crime,at least sense should prevail.
@SK5: Change the cultural inequalities you will feel the difference.
@thinktank: Real chap accepting the follies of unruly society.
I feel very sad - poor little girls.
Because media is making ppl more frustrated. When you see media promoting vulgarity nudity sexology then this happens. In USA more than 100,000 rapes happen every year. Reason? MEDIA!
This time for a change, I will take all the dirt thrown at indians from pakistani trolls... I simply have lost too much face to speak about 'ills' in pakistan when my own country has such appalling tragedies going on.. Bring it on!!
@Yoghurt lover: Well the upper middle class in India may have good cars and order pizzas but they also have maids who are not middle class that they talk to. They may not always have been well of or they may have school friends, family members cousins who may not be well off. Plus poverty is not the only affliction that someone can have. From reading, interacting with neighbours, friends, family - it is possible to have a fairly good idea of what is going on.
I don't think anyone talks about India shining anymore. That slogan was buried in the 2004 elections. Most peope know india has many problems but problems are more resources allocated to resolving them and things are moving in the right direction. So there is a legitimate cause for optimism, though no reason for hubris.
@Yoghurt lover: "While rapes always existed throughout the history of humanity, I simply cannot understand the rise in the numbers in the last decade or so.
What is the reason that the number of violence against women is going up and the brutality is increasing?!"
Probably it is not the actual violence that is increasing. But there might be 2 things happening : 1) In the past, the matter maybe completely hushed up or the girl might commit suicide due to the whole honour culture. Now the families are coming forward and filing cases. This is a good trend ( imean not the rape itself but the fact that people don't feel guilty about being a victim and family supports them).. 2) media reports it more and follows up on those stories instead of burying it on page 13 in a small para so there is more awareness when such incidents occur
@Khan: India hides such news? Dude how do you think Tribune got this news? It was aggressively covered in the Indian media. Are you quite sure such things don't happen in Pakistan? Maybe they do at the same or higher frequency and due to the laws which require 4 male witnesses (which is almost impossible to get) most women don't report rape? Which is better, hiding problems or facing problems so that they can be solved.
@Commentor: You see Indians celebrate atrocities in Pakistan but Pakistanis have the decency not to make say such things. This is a horrible tragedy plain and simple and my heart goes out to those poor girls. There is too much rape and abuse of women in India.
@Yoghurt lover: This is a societal crime and in any country must be addressed as such, indicting the full country because of this is a bit extreme.
Rape is an opportunistic crime- from world bank executive to President of Israel to politicians of every nation to common criminals are involved, when opportunity presents itself.
The way to deal with rape is to apprehend the criminals at all cost and protect the victims after the incidence. In this case it very tragic indeed. The public should stand behind the victims rather than creating an atmosphere of shame and guilt of the victim.
@Yoghurt lover: There is much more (well-deserved) attention on this subject now; most rapes may not have become front page news in a pre-internet era, and would have remained a localized issue, and so you only get to hear of the most heinous ones - today there are no such boundaries for information. It is like this Suryanelli case in Kerala - most of us did not hear of it when it happened, but everyone knows now. Further, I don't think eating Pizza or ordering on the net has anything to do with knowing India, or any place for that matter. If such were the case, there wouldn't be a job for any historians, since they naturally cannot have visited the places or times that they profess to be experts in.
@Khan: You have enough for a script. Contact Ram Gopal Varma.
Please leave the children alone.Keep them out of these crimes.
Oh yes.When it comes to Pakistan people tend to portray as it is the worst place on earth and condemination for all over the world is there.But when it comes to india everyone including people commenting here just keep mum.May it be Muslims and other minorities genocide by hindu extremist groups, may it be rape of women, may it be killing of indian nuclear scientists and stealing of radioactive material from indian nuclear lab or killing of innocent kashmiris by the indian army, nobody seem to pay any heed.The real face of the biggest democracy is exposed.But again who cares.
@ Commentor
no politics please.
@commentor..
atleast 50+ comments with at least 50% with muslim names focusing why a separate country Pakistan was a bad idea.. :)
ohhhh... very very sad news...
While rapes always existed throughout the history of humanity, I simply cannot understand the rise in the numbers in the last decade or so.
What is the reason that the number of violence against women is going up and the brutality is increasing?!
This is a clear indication that India is regressing and not progressing.
The urban middle-class who are the maximum visitors to the internet, have no idea of the real India. When you live in an apartment in a good neighborhood, ordering pizzas twice a week, buying books and bags from the internet, reading newspaers for bollywood and cricket, traveling around in volvo buses or cars and sitting before a computer for more than 12 hours a day, are simply unaware of the realities of this country and believe that India is shining.
Their only access to the real world is when there is an emergency in the kitchen and a big bazaar is a bit too far to buy 2 rs of green chillies.
India is actually stinking.
and if this happened in Pakistan, can someone imagin how much comments on focus this story got.
What has the world come to. Every sane person needs to unite against these snakes!
That's sad.