7-year-old girl raped, strangled to death while playing near home

The minor was strangulated to death after being raped as injury marks were found on her neck.

Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot alleged rape cases were rising in the state amid a "poor" law and order situation under the BJP government.

He condemned the alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl, whose body was found on Saturday in a field not very far away from her home in Jhalawar district's Mogiyabhiya village.

The police suspect the minor, who went missing last evening, was strangulated to death after being raped as injury marks were found on her neck.

According to sources, the girl went missing on Friday when she was playing outside her home. When she didn't return home, her parents approached the police the next morning and registered a complaint. After a search, by Saturday evening, the police found her body some 200 metres away from her home.

"She had a roti at around 6 in the evening and stepped out to play. My elder daughter went back inside. Later, when she went out, she couldn't find her (the 7-year-old)," the girl's father was quoted by NDTV as saying.

This is the second rape case being reported in Jhalawar in the last five months, the report added.

Pilot accused the Vasundhra Raje-led government of not being serious towards such cases.

"Cases of rape are on the rise due to negligence of the government. Criminals are getting a conducive environment in the state due to the poor law and order situation," he said in a statement.

Pilot said though the name of Raje's pre-poll yatra had been changed from 'Suraj Gaurav Yatra' to 'Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra', people want to know how and when the state's 'gaurav' or pride grew under the BJP rule.

Raje's 40-day yatra to seek the people's mandate in the upcoming assembly elections will be flagged off by BJP president Amit Shah from Charbhuja Nath temple in Rajasthan's Rajsamand district on August 4.