In the last few months, at least 3 minor girls have been raped in Gurugram's urban villages.
Two days after the body of a four-year-old girl was found in a dumpster in Gurugram near New Delhi, the police are struggling to find clues. No arrests have been made so far.
The girl was kidnapped from outside a temple in Gurugram's Ghasola village, where she had gone with her mother on November 24. Police said they found strangulation marks around the girl's neck.
The autopsy report revealed that she had been raped and tortured before she was killed.
A First Information Report has been lodged at Sadar police station under sections 302 (murder) 363 (kidnapping), 346 (wrongful confinement in secret) and section Section 6 (penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The girl's mother is a domestic worker, the father works as a domestic labourer. Migrants from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, the couple together earned Rs 3,000 to feed their two children, including the girl.
The family lives in a slum in the village which is considered highly unsafe for girls with around 7 sexual crimes against children in the last four months. Many families of migrant labourers living in the neighbourhood say that crimes against children were on the rise.
Just five days ago, a 58-year-old man was arrested in nearby Ghangola village for the rape of his neighbour's four-year-old speech-impaired daughter. Another minor was brutally raped in Gurugram recently and is undergoing surgeries. No arrests were made in the case either.
"Wherever there are migrants labourers and slums, parents usually leave their children and go off to work. The children are alone and keep playing by themselves", said ACP Manish Sehgal of the Haryana police, adding the young children were vulnerable.
The girl's mother said the family is hard-pressed for money and have no option but to leave their kids in the makeshift houses or shanties and go to work.
"Where should we keep our children? There is no safety here. If such a thing can happen with this young girl what about older women?" said the girl's aunt.
It comes as no surprise that slums or neighbouring areas have no child-care facilities. But experts argue it is possible in such areas, depending on its inhabitants.
"We have to look at measures how we can improve our community system. All these condominiums can have small
anganwadis, it doesn't take much", said Divya Vaishnav, a child rights activist and psycho-social therapist from Bachche Unki Duniya or BUD foundation.
The Haryana Police argue that crimes against women and children are not on the rise, but more cases are coming to light now which were earlier going unreported.