Armyman Sexually Assaults, Kills Adopted Daughter, Wife Attempts Cover-Up

In a shocking crime, an Armyman and his wife have been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting and murdering their adopted 11-year-old daughter in Madurai, the police said on Tuesday. The woman is the girl's aunt and had taken her in after her mother died and she was abandoned by her father.

Investigators say the man, who is a Subedar in the Indian Army and was serving in Jammu and Kashmir, had sexually abused the girl after reaching home last week for a month-long vacation. The girl had complained to her aunt, who did not alert the police and attempted a cover-up, officials from the Oomachikumal police station said.  

The abuse came to light after the couple took the dead child to the government hospital in Madurai on March 22, claiming that they had found her unconscious. A post-mortem revealed sexual abuse and the couple was arrested on Sunday after being interrogated for two days. "The man had smothered the child to death," a police officer told NDTV.

The couple has been charged with murder and under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. 

The girl's mother had died when she was an infant, and she and her sibling had later been abandoned by their father. She was raised by her aunt and her Armyman uncle since then, said an official.