Class XII student sexually assaulted and murdered in UP; minor relative detained

According to police, the victim’s brother alleged that his sister was sleeping near the entrance to their house on Saturday night when she was abducted by unidentified persons. The family woke up the next morning, saw she was missing and began searching for her. The brother claimed they finally found her hanging from a tree, a short distance from their home.

Police teams rushed to the spot on receiving information and sent the body for a post-mortem examination. Preliminary findings indicated that the cause of death was smothering. Police also said initial autopsy findings suggested sexual assault, and forensic samples have been sent for further examination to confirm the findings.

During investigation, police found that the victim had been in contact with her relative through her father’s mobile phone. Police claimed on Saturday night, the minor called her to a field 450 metres from her house and she went there, but found he was accompanied by two others.

Police said the minor relative allegedly sexually assaulted her and then forced his friends to assault her as well.

When the girl resisted and raised an alarm, the accused allegedly overpowered her and covered her mouth to prevent her cries from being heard. When the girl died, they allegedly dragged her and hanged her from a tree.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on X in Hindi on Monday, said, “The news of the heinous murder of a Dalit daughter in Pratapgarh is deeply tragic and condemnable.” “The question remains: why does the spate of murders of ‘PDA daughters’ continue unabated in Uttar Pradesh? Are the BJP government’s claims regarding women’s safety merely hollow rhetoric, or is there, in fact, discrimination even in the provision of security for women?” he said.

“Whenever the ‘wandering Honourable (ghumantu maananiye)’ finds a moment of respite from election campaigning, he should cast a glance at the plight of the daughters of his own Uttar Pradesh. In any case, apart from injustice and oppression, no sister, daughter, or mother of this state holds any hope from you,” Yadav added.

-with PTI inputs