A four-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district has died days after her relative allegedly raped her, the police said on Tuesday, PTI reported. The girl was admitted to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College hospital in Aligarh and later shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital after her condition deteriorated. She died on Monday.

Senior Superintendent of Police Muniraj G said the minor was held captive at her relative’s house in Iglas area of Aligarh district and was rescued on September 17.

“On a complaint by a social organisation police raided the house, which belonged to a relative of the victim, found the girl and admitted her to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College hospital where she was being treated till four days ago,” he told reporters. A medical examination has confirmed rape.

The police have arrested the 15-year-old accused who has confessed to his crime, said the senior superintendent of police. “The boy’s mother, who is the maternal aunt of the victim, is reported to be an accomplice in the crime and is missing,” he said. He added that a first information report was registered on September 21 on the complaint of the girl’s father.

On Tuesday, the girl family protested against police inaction and demanded that the woman be arrested soon. The SSP said two police teams have been formed to find the girl’s aunt, adding that the station house officer of Iglas police station has been suspended for negligence.

The incident came at a time when there has been nationwide outrage over the gangrape and torture of a 19-year-old Dalit woman by four upper-caste Thakur men. The police’s handling of the case has come under intense scrutiny. The sequence of events around the crime and the hasty cremation of the victim by authorities has also raised doubts about whether this was done to suppress medical evidence of sexual assault.

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