By Sagaya Fernando | May 21, 2025
Uttar Pradesh, INDIA: A 17-year-old Dalit girl was brutally gang-raped, strangled and found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district on Thursday, May 16, in what police say was a deliberate attempt to disguise the murder as a suicide.
The victim, a Class 11 student, had left her home that morning to attend school but never arrived. Her family launched a search when she failed to return by evening. Later that night, a relative from Farrukhabad informed them that she had been seen in a field on the village outskirts. The family found her body hanging from a tree, tied with her own scarf.
Police initially did not rule out the possibility of suicide and sent the body for post-mortem. However, the autopsy report received on Friday, May 17, confirmed that the teenager had been sexually assaulted and died due to strangulation, ruling out suicide and prompting a murder investigation.
The family had raised suspicion against her 23-year-old cousin. Following a formal complaint, police traced and apprehended him later that night in an encounter during which he sustained a bullet wound to his leg. On Saturday, May 18, police arrested two more suspects — his brother-in-law and a friend — for their alleged involvement.
“All three accused have been taken into custody and sent to jail,” said Mainpuri Superintendent of Police (Rural) Arun Singh. “The autopsy clearly indicates that the girl was murdered and later hanged to mislead the investigation.”
An FIR has been registered under Sections 70-2 (gang rape of a minor) and 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
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