A 10-year-old girl, who was apparently brutally raped, was found abandoned in a serious condition in a forest area in the Myana area in the Guna district of Madhya Pradesh.

After the registration of a case in the matter, several police teams have launched a manhunt for the unidentified accused while the victim has been referred to a Bhopal hospital for treatment as her condition started deteriorating.

According to police officials, the girl had come to a weekly market (haat bazaar) in Guna city with her mother who sells corn. After the market, the mother and daughter went to a local flour mill to get some wheat ground.

While they were on their way home in the evening, the accused approached them saying the flour mill owner forgot to return them a balance of Rs 100.

The accused asked the mother to send her daughter with him to collect the amount from the shopkeeper. With her consent, the accused took the girl with him on a motorcycle. But when the girl did not come back after several hours, the mother, along with her husband and others, launched a search for their girl.

During the search, they found the girl lying unconscious in a forested area at around 10 pm with no clothes on her body bleeding profusely from her private parts.

After the parents informed the police, a team of policemen reached the spot. They sent the victim to a hospital in Guna. However, in view of her serious condition, the doctors referred her to Bhopal after providing her with initial treatment.

According to SDOP Vivek Asthana, a case has been registered against the unidentified accused and teams of four police stations are working on identifying and nabbing him. The police official said the Guna SP announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for information about the accused.

Reacting to the incident, MP Congress Chief Jitu Patwari accused the state government of failing to ensure the safety of women and girls.

On Friday, Patwari alleged cases of rape are reported daily from across the state. He said there was no rule of law in MP but only jungle raj in the state.

He said that the BJP government has no power to stop crimes against women and girls, and the case of rape of the 10-year-old girl at Guna is another example of that.