A 12-year-old girl, who had gone missing in central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Saturday, was found dead not far from her home on Sunday morning. Police suspect it to be a case of rape and murder.A 12-year-old girl, who had gone missing in central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Saturday, was found dead not far from her home on Sunday morning. Police suspect it to be a case of rape and murder. (Getty Images/ Representational image)Police officials said that the girl was reported missing on Saturday evening after she had left home for religious classes at a village in Budgam.Police Station Budgam registered an FIR under kidnapping charges and launched a search operation.Budgam SSP Hariprasad KK said that the searches continued throughout the night. “ During the early morning hours today, the body of the minor girl was recovered some 200m from her residence from a plot,” he said. All necessary medico-legal and investigative formalities were initiated.“Prima facie, it is a case of rape and murder,” he said.A case has been registered under FIR number 139/2026 under Sections 137(1) and 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Police Station Budgam and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted under the supervision of Sajad Ahmad, deputy superintendent of police (DSP)Headquarters, Budgam.“We have registered a case under relevant sections of the law, and the public is requested not to spread misinformation or circulate unverified content,” the SSP said. The official said that the investigation was at the preliminary stage.“The case will be cracked as soon as possible and the culprit will be produced in front of you,” Hariprasad said.Police are also calling local suspects and collecting CCTV footage around the area, appealing to people to stay calm.Chief minister Omar Abdullah expressed outrage over the incident. “The murder of a young preteen girl in Budgam district of central Kashmir is both shocking & deeply distressing. While the appropriate agencies inquire into the circumstances of her murder, it’s also fitting that we reflect on where we as a society are headed when our young children are not safe. I condemn this brutal attack without reservation or condition & send my sympathies to her family. May she find a place in ‘jannat’. My government will support the agencies to the fullest extent possible to ensure exemplary punishment is given to those found guilty,” he said on X.The case has prompted shock and anger in Kashmir. People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti said: “Devastated to hear about the cold blooded murder of a 12 -year-old girl in Budgam. The allegations of rape just make it all the more shocking, disconcerting & unsettling. One shudders at the thought of whether our children are really safe”.Chief cleric of Jamia Masjid in Srinagar Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that the incident has shaken the conscience of society.“Heartbroken and disturbed by the death of a 12-year-old girl in Budgam, who went missing while on her way to the Darsgah( religious school). The circumstances surrounding this incident are extremely painful and have shaken the conscience of every human being,” he said on X. He demanded a thorough, transparent and time-bound investigation.