Your girl raped and killed on Dec 17, 2006 and case buried unceremoniously
Six suspects picked up, but cops unable to build strong case
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 24 2013: On the ground that they were unable to trace the culprits, Yairipok Police Station has closed the rape and murder case of minor girl Samjetsabam Ichal of Andro Awang Leikai.

Ichal, 11-year-old then, was found raped, murdered and abandoned near a pathway that led to Nongmaiching Hill at around 8 pm of December 17, 2006 .

The girl went to Nongmaiching hill with some female companions of her locality to collect firewoods in the morning of December 17, 2006 .

Normally, villagers who went to collect firewoods in the morning return home before noon to have lunch.

However, Ichal did not come back till late afternoon even though her companions returned home in time.

Thinking that Ichal might have been guided away by 'evil spirits', villagers of her locality started searching for her around Nongmaiching hill.

At around 8 pm, Ichal's body was found in a bush near a pathway that led to the hill.

The little girl was found raped and brutally murdered with her throat slit.

A girl

In connection with the incident, Yairipok Police Station started investigation under IPC Section 376, 302, 349 after registering an FIR bearing number 117 (12) 2006 .

Although police picked up six suspects for questioning, they were released later declaring them innocent.

After a prolonged investigation, Yairipok Police Station submitted a final report (24/2008) declaring the case as 'Undetected Real Culprit' .

However, an officer of the police station told The Sangai Express that the case can be still reopened if any fresh clue surfaces.

Although, Ichal's parents are poverty stricken, illiterate and daily wage earners, they wanted to make their daughter an educated person.

They sent Ichal to school and the girl was reading in Class III at the time of her death.

Ichal's father Munal said, "Pained with the brutal rape and murder of our beloved daughter, I even wanted to take the life of the culprits.

"However, we believed that police would find out the perpetrators, but it didn't happen", Munal lamented.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the police investigation, Munal said that police came to their house only once in connection with the incident.

As Ichal's mother could not bear the trauma of her daughter's death, she is now a physical wreck after suffering mental depression for many years.

The mother who is now improving from her illness wishes to witness the perpetrators being punished according to the law of the land during her lifetime.