15-year-old murdered after rape, body hanged from tree in UP

A teenaged girl was allegedly abducted, gangraped, murdered and her body hanged from a tree in Nanpara area here.

The incident has triggered outrage, prompting the authorities to swing into action.

Four constables have been suspended for dereliction of duty and two of the three accused named by the victim's father have been arrested so far, police said.

The incident took place on Friday when the 15-year-old girl went missing and her body was yesterday found hanging from a tree outside the village, they said.

Police suspect the body was hanged from a tree so as to give an impression that she committed suicide.

An FIR has been registered on a complaint of the victim's father against Imran, Sarvjeet Yadav and Ghanshyam Maurya for abducting, raping and killing his daughter.

He alleged that the three had tried to abduct the victim earlier also but failed.

Superintendent of Police Salik Ram Verma said the body has been sent for post-mortem and whether she was raped could be confirmed only after the report has been received.

Police arrested Sarvejeet Yadav last night and Imran today, while a hunt is on for the third accused, he said.

Expressing dismay and outrage over the incident, women activists lashed out at the Centre saying that those who are celebrating two years of governance, need to pay more attention to curbing violence against women.

"This needs to be condemned and protested... The government which is celebrating its two years of governance needs to pay more attention to curbing violence against women," said former National Commission for Women (NCW) member Nirmala Samant.

Women rights activist Jagmati Sangwan said the law and order situation has totally collapsed in Uttar Pradesh as criminals have no fear of police and the government.

The incident revives memories of the Badaun case, in which two teenaged girls of a family were allegedly gangraped, killed and hanged from a tree at Katra village in May 2014, triggering a massive public outcry. Later, the CBI, which was entrusted with the probe into the incident, ruled out rape of the two girls.