A 57-year-old government official has been arrested for raping a six-year-old Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr and then committing bestiality with a goat. The survivor’s family said the man used to frequent the village for official work and entered their house when he saw that the girl was playing in the courtyard with the child of a neighbour and no adult was present.

The rape as well as the bestiality was recorded by the neighbour’s child, who is about the same age as the girl. Officials said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken note of the heinous crime, the official has been suspended and the state government has announced an assistance of Rs 8.25 lakh to the girl’s family. 

Police officials said Gajendra Singh, a resident of Rasoolpur village, is posted as the Agriculture Development Officer (Agriculture Protection) in the Shikarpur block. On Monday evening, he went to a village in Ahmedgarh police station area where he saw the girl and the boy playing in the courtyard of the house and went and sat on a cot there. 

Senior Superintendent of Police (Bulandshahr) Shlok Kumar said, “Singh entered the house of the girl around 5 pm on Monday. The girl’s family was known to him. He raped the girl and then had unnatural sex with a goat that was tied nearby. A boy captured the crime on his phone. Singh has been arrested. Since he is a government official, he has also been suspended and a departmental inquiry is being conducted.”

Mr Kumar said the police will seek a speedy trial and make all efforts to ensure that Singh is punished. 

The girl’s father said he and his wife were working on a farm when the incident took place. The girl and the boy told them what had happened and they registered a police complaint on Tuesday morning.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed Mr Kumar and the District Magistrate to go to the village, meet the survivor’s family and aid with the investigation. The government has also announced assistance of Rs 8.25 lakh under three different heads to the family. 

(With inputs from Sameer Ali) 

A British crocodile expert has admitted to raping and killing dogs, filming his acts of bestiality and posting them online, reported BBC. Adam Britton, a leading zoologist who has worked with BBC and National Geographic, told an Australian court that he tortured dozens of dogs until they died. All of these on camera.

Britton, who also confessed to accessing child abuse material online among 60 charges, is yet to be sentenced.

At the Northern Territory Supreme Court, the judge hearing the case warned people to leave the courtroom since the details of his crimes were too graphic and could cause “nervous shock”, said local media.

The prosecutors said Britton had “sadistic sexual interest” in animals since 2014 and exploited his own pets as well as dogs given up by other owners.

Britton used to look for people giving away their pets due to travel or work commitments, and try to get the custody of the animals, the prosecutors told the court. He would use “false narratives” or send old photos to the previous owners reaching out for an update on their old pets, they said.

He had equipped a shipping container with recording tools where he abused the animals, the court was told. He referred to it as the “torture room”.

Britton, who has a PhD in zoology and holds academic position at Charles Darwin University, was arrested in 2022 after the Northern Territory police came across one such video. He will be sentenced in December.

39 of the 42 dogs he abused in 18 months before his arrest had died, the report said.