Bara, Aug. 19 -- Residents blocked the highway in Simara on Wednesday afternoon to protest the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl who had been missing for three days from Bhaktinagar in Jitpur Simara-1.

The protesters began blocking the Birgunj-Pathlaiya section of the Tribhuvan Highway at around 1pm, demanding the arrest and severe punishment of those responsible and relief for the victim's family.

The girl, Garima Chaudhary, had gone missing from her home on Sunday. Her body was found on Tuesday evening. Police said she had been lured from her home with a chocolate and taken to an abandoned house nearby, where she was raped and killed.

The body remains at the Kalaiya Provincial Hospital. Her relatives had not initially come to c...