Three die in UP clash

Three people were killed and three injured in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district when two groups clashed after a teenaged girl was harassed, police said Wednesday.

The incident took place late Tuesday in Sainda Faridpur village of Khurja, around 400 km from here, after the 14-year-old girl was harassed by a youth Monday.

When she complained to her family, they roughed up the youth and warned him to stay away.

Police pacified both sides.

But the youth harassed the teenager again Tuesday after which both sides confronted each other with weapons and fought a pitched battle that left three people dead.

The dead have been identified as Indrapal Jatav, 36, Balveer Thakur, 45, and Om Prakash, 48.

Residents have accused police of not paying heed to the seriousness of the complaint.

Police personnel who reached the violence spot were heckled and beaten up. A woman constable was also roughed up.

Heavy police force has been rushed to the scene and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) has also been deployed.

A senior police official termed the incident as a caste conflict and said a police official had been suspended.

Sub-Inspector Sri Niwas and woman constable Suman have been admitted to a hospital.

A similar incident, which went unattended in Muzaffarnagar in September 2012, had led to the killing of two youth that ultimately led to communal riots in western Uttar Pradesh, leaving 63 dead and thousands homeless.