Lakhimpur Kheri was rocked by yet another mysterious death of a 14-year-old girl. Her body was found hanging from the thatched roof of a house by a scarf on Sunday morning.
This is the fourth such incident reported over four weeks in the district.
Lakhimpur Kheri SP Satendra Kumar Singh, ASP Arun Kumar Singh and Mitauli Circle Officer Shitanshu Kumar rushed to the spot after receiving information about the incident and carried out preliminary investigations. The officials also talked to the parents and other family members of the girl, the police said.
The cause of the girl’s death is yet to be ascertained.
Police said the body had been sent for autopsy and appropriate action would be taken after the report came.
This is the second death of a girl in Neemgaon police station limits since August 25.
Lakhimpur Kheri district was in the news recently when a 17-year-old Dalit girl was found dead outside her village. She was allegedly raped and murdered after she left home to fill a scholarship application. Her mutilated body was found near a dry pond, around 200 metres away from her village in Neemgaon police limits.
In another incident reported from Saharanpur, a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by two persons last week allegedly committed suicide at her residence.
According to the police, the two accused had filmed the act and had been threatening the victim that they would upload the video on social media if she told anyone about the incident.
The two accused have been arrested, police disclosed.
After she consumed some poisonous substance, the girl was taken to a community health centre on Friday afternoon from where she was referred to the district hospital where she died.
The family then submitted a complaint that she had been raped by the two accused. A video of the alleged crime had also been made and it was allegedly uploaded on social media. This led the minor to take the extreme step, said Ashok Kumar Meena, SP (Rural) at Saharanpur.
As per the complaint, the minor had been allegedly raped under a criminal conspiracy by the accused, identified only as Nauman and Rehbar.
“They made a video of the crime. They told her that if she told anyone about the incident, they would upload the video on social media. When she refused the advances of the accused later, they leaked the video. Fearing humiliation, she consumed poison,” the complaint filed by the family said.
The victim did not tell the family about the incident fearing backlash, her relatives said. “Minutes before her death, I requested the police to record her statement since I wanted to record the names of those who did this to her,” said a relative.
Meanwhile in Mainpuri, a minor girl was gang-raped at gunpoint.
Reports said that a 15-year-old girl was found lying in an unconscious state in the bushes on Saturday afternoon. The cops of Kurawali police station shifted her to hospital where she told them that on Friday evening, she left her home to give cloth for stitching at a tailor’s shop when four miscreants forcibly took her to a secluded place and gang-raped her at gunpoint.
She said that later she fainted and only regained her consciousness in the hospital.
A case has been registered and efforts are on to nab the culprits.