Police say a 10-year-old Indian rape victim, who gave birth to a baby girl in August, had been made pregnant by one of her uncles.
Police are filing charges against the suspect – who is the second uncle of the girl’s to be accused of raping her.
The first uncle has been held since last month and will remain in custody as he is charged with raping the girl.
Police began a search for a second suspect after forensic tests revealed that the first uncle’s DNA did not match that of the baby’s.
Neelambari Vijay, Chandigarh senior superintendent of police, said that that police were now rushing to also file charges against the second uncle – who is the younger brother of the first uncle.
“It’s true the Baby’s DNA sample has matched that of the [second] uncle,” she said.
The case of the 10-year-old girl has made headlines across the world.
Her pregnancy was discovered in mid-July when she complained of a stomach ache and her parents took her to hospital.
A local court in Chandigarh rejected the abortion plea on the grounds that she was too far into her pregnancy after a doctors’ panel advised that termination of the pregnancy would be “too risky”.
The Supreme Court also refused to allow an abortion for her on similar grounds.
Indian law does not allow terminations after 20 weeks unless doctors certify that the mother’s life is in danger.
The girl, who was not aware of her pregnancy and was told the bulge in her stomach was a stone, gave birth in August and the baby was given away to child welfare authorities for adoption. The girl’s parents are reported to have refused to have anything to do with the infant.
Initially, the girl told police and child welfare activists that she had been raped several times in the past seven months by the first uncle to be placed under arrest, who is in his 40s.
By video link, the girl testified to court and very clearly named the uncle and revealed facts about her abuse.
The girl’s father said that the first uncle had not denied the charges against him. Police also said he had admitted to the allegations.
But after DNA tests revealed he was not the father of the baby, the search for a second suspect began, with the arrest of the second uncle being made in September.
The country’s courts have received several petitions in recent months, many from child rape survivors, seeking permission to abort.
In most of these cases, the young girls are completely unaware as to their condition and as such their pregnancies are discovered late, beyond the 20-week limit.
Earlier this month, a 13-year-old girl was given court permission to terminate her pregnancy at 32 weeks. The boy she was carrying was born alive in Mumbai but died two days later.
Cases like these have brought attention to the scale of abuse in India. Unicef and Indian government figures reveal that in 2015, more than 100,000 were raped.
