Uttar Pradesh: ‘Missing’ Dalit girl, eight, strangled to death with her trousers; family alleges rape
TNN | Jun 22, 2021, 04.00 AM IST
BAREILLY: An eight-year-old girl was found dead in a village cane field in Pasgava area of Lakhimpur Kheri district late on Sunday. She went missing in the afternoon. Her trousers were removed and used to strangle her. Villagers claimed she was raped and murdered. Police suspect the girl was killed after the accused possibly failed to rape her. They have registered a case of murder.
The autopsy was conducted by a panel of three doctors, including a woman doctor.
The autopsy was conducted by a panel of three doctors, including a woman doctor.
The girl belonged to a Dalit labourer’s family and she was the eldest among three siblings. Her father had gone to Punjab to work as a farm labourer on a contract and was expected to return home by Monday evening.
The girl’s grandmother said, “My granddaughter had gone to graze goats along with me. In the afternoon, she said that she is going back home. But in the evening, I was informed that she didn’t return home. We started searching for her and later found her dead.”
After the girl went missing, the family started searching for her and later informed the police. Two teams were deployed to search for the missing girl and her body was recovered by a police team inside a cane field outside the village. Forensic experts were called to collect evidence from the crime scene as the family didn’t raise allegations against anyone.
Senior superintendent of police Vijay Dhull and circle officer (Mohammadi) Abhay Pratap Mall also carried out investigation. The girl’s mother told TOI, “My daughter was very innocent. Why would someone kill her? We don’t have enmity with anyone in the village and we never harmed anyone. Someone must have done bad with her and killed her.”
The SSP told TOI, “The autopsy is being done by a panel of experts and its report will confirm the possibility of sexual assault. The girl was strangled to death using her ‘salvar’. We didn’t see any other injuries on her body. There have been cases in the past where the victim was killed after a failed rape bid but we cannot confirm the actual reason in this case so far.”
