A 10-YEAR-OLD girl was allegedly beaten to death with a brick after resisting a rape attempt by a family friend in Surat, India.
Dinesh Baisane, 24, is accused of luring the young girl away from where she was playing near her uncle’s home in the Pandesara area by offering to buy her a vada paav (a fast food dish) on Monday.
He is then believed to have taken her to an isolated spot where he began to sexually assault her, the Times of India reports.
Baisane, who was friends with the youngster’s family, is alleged to have hit the girl on the head with a brick after she cried out for help.
Police say she died of serious head injuries.
Baisane, a native of Amalner in Maharashtra, was arrested at his house by cops who were searching the area after the girl’s parents raised the alarm.
The suspect was identified with the help of locals and CCTV footage of the shop where he took the youngster to buy food.
Baisane told police he was asked by Anand, a distant relative of the girl’s father, to kill the girl.
He has since been arrested, but police are yet to confirm his involvement.
The girl’s father would drop his 15-year-old son and his young daughter to his brother’s home in Prem Nagar while he and his wife worked.
Baisane, who lives in the same area, is believed to be a friend of the girl’s uncle.
It comes after protesters in India took to the streets demanding action to stop such horrifying attacks.
According to government data, the country is one of the world’s most dangerous places for women, with a rape occurring every 15 minutes on average.
Some 90 rapes a day were reported in India every day last year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
Large numbers are also feared to go unreported as women do not feel like they can go to the authorities.
In Cuttack, a teenage girl was kidnapped and repeatedly gang-raped over a 22-day period after she ran away from home.
The 17-year-old was snatched after she had left home following an argument with her parents.
Rape and sexual violence has been under the spotlight in India since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi.
Public outrage over her death led to legislators passing tough new laws against sexual violence, including the death penalty for rape in some cases.
Prison sentences for rapists were doubled to 20 years as well as well as criminalising voyeurism, stalking and trafficking of women.
Indian MPs also voted to lower the age at which a person can be tried as an adult for heinous crimes to 16 from 18.