Dalit girl found dead in Unnao, kin allege rape and murder
The body was badly crushed and the family claimed to have identified the girl through ear-rings and clothes. On Friday, the police handed over her mortal remains to the family after autopsy. The autopsy report pointed to “accidental injuries,” police said.
By: Express News Service
Lucknow | Updated: February 25, 2023 07:25 IST
“We have decided not to conduct the final rites till the accused are arrested. Police are making a false claim. My sister was abducted from our house at night when we were asleep. The assailants raped and later killed her,” alleged the girl’s brother.
THE BODY of a teenaged Dalit girl bearing serious injury marks was found lying on a road in Unnao district, police said on Friday.
The girl’s family has alleged that she was murdered after being abducted and gangraped by unidentified persons. The family refused to conduct the final rites on Friday. However, police denied the allegations and claimed that the death occurred after the girl was “run over by a heavy vehicle.”
The body was badly crushed and the family claimed to have identified the girl through ear-rings and clothes. On Friday, the police handed over her mortal remains to the family after autopsy. The autopsy report pointed to “accidental injuries,” police said.
“We have decided not to conduct the final rites till the accused are arrested. Police are making a false claim. My sister was abducted from our house at night when we were asleep. The assailants raped and later killed her,” alleged the girl’s brother. Police said they have not found any evidence suggesting the victim was raped or murdered. “The post-mortem report says she had accidental injuries,” said Superintendent of Police, Unnao, Siddharth Shankar Meena.
Police said the family is waiting for the girl’s father, who works abroad. According to the girl’s brother, on Wednesday night, his brother told them that she was missing from her bed. “After failing to trace her, we contacted the village pradhan who told us that later in the night, the police found a girl’s body on a roadside and sent it for autopsy . A local resident took pictures of the body. We saw the photographs and they appeared to be of my sister’s. Then, we went to the police station and saw her belongings,” said the brother.
Later, the family staged a protest on a portion of the road demanding arrest of the culprits.
They called off the protest when police registered a case against unidentified persons on charges of rape, kidnapping and murder. No arrests have been made yet, said SP Meena.
The police said that on Wednesday night, they got information that a girl’s body was found near a country liquor shop along a road. The shop is near her residence. A police team reached the spot and sent it for postmortem after no one claimed it.
Police said they checked her phone and found that she stepped out of her residence on Wednesday night. SP Meena said no complaint was made before the body was recovered. He added that the crime scene “clearly suggests that an accident occurred at the place.
Samajwadi Party MLA Lalji Verma and BSP MLA Umshankar Singh raised the matter of the girl’s death in the Assembly on Friday and demanded a detailed probe by an independent agency.
