Class 10 girl found dead in Haryana, family alleges schoolmate, others raped her

A 16-year-old girl from Haryana's Charkhi Dadri district died under suspicious circumstances after going to collect her Class 10 board exam roll number. Her family alleges she was drugged, gang-raped and poisoned, sparking protests and police action.

She stepped out of her house on the morning of February 24 with a simple purpose, to collect her roll number for the Class 10 board examination. By nightfall, the 16-year-old girl from Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district was dead, and her family was standing outside a hospital mortuary, refusing to take her body until those they accuse of destroying her life were arrested.

The minor died under suspicious circumstances, with her family alleging that she was drugged, gang-raped and forced to consume a poisonous substance by four youths. Police have registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the POCSO Act and launched an investigation.

According to the family, the girl left home in the morning to go to her school to collect her examination roll number. Hours later, at around 1:30 pm, a phone call shattered the calm. The family was informed that her health had suddenly deteriorated.

She was first taken to the general hospital in Dadri. As her condition worsened, doctors referred her to Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, where she died during treatment.

Relatives said the girl was found unconscious in a public park in Dadri. In their complaint, they alleged that a schoolmate lured her to the town, after which four young boys raped her inside a vehicle and made her consume a toxic substance.

“She was a child. She trusted them,” a family member said, as grief and anger spilled over at the hospital.