In a shocking incident, a teenage girl has been allegedly murdered and hanged from a tree in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district.
The 15-year-old victim had stepped out of her house to relieve herself but went missing from her Benipur village from Monday night. Her body was found hanging from a tree in Misrikh area on Tuesday.
The father of the victim has alleged that she was raped. "My daughter was 15. The guy who did this has no child. He was forcing us to get our daughter married to him. We refused saying you are too old, our daughter is only 15 and you are 40. He got hold of my daughter, killed her and hanged her on a tree," the victim's father told NDTV.
The police have said that it has not been established whether the girl was raped before being killed. A family feud is said to be the cause of the murder.
The cops have sent the girl's body for post mortem. Based on the father's complaint, the cops have booked six persons including a neigbhour and his three sons. They have also launched a manhunt to catch the other accused who are absconding.
"The father is alleging that because of marriage issues, some people had enmity with them. He says that these six people killed and hung his daughter. We have filed a case under Section 302 and the girl's body has been sent for post-mortem," a policeman told the TV channel.
The shocking incident has happened just days after two teenage girls were raped, killed and hanged from a tree in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. The girls, who were cousins, were gang-raped and murdered on 27 May. The next day, their bodies were found hanging from a tree. The death of the girls sparked outrage and protests by villagers, opposition political parties and women's activists.
The cops arrested five people accused in connection with the rape and murder of the dalit girls. Two police officers, who were also involved in the case, were dismissed from duty.
Since then, multiple reports of violent sex crimes in Uttar Pradesh have been making headlines in Indian and international media. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has been under fire over increasing lawlessness in the state. Facing heat, the Yadav government gave nod for a CBI probe in the Badaun gang-rape case.
