A 16-year-old girl's body was found last night in a field in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh district. She had gone missing since yesterday morning and had not returned, the police have said. The incident comes less than two weeks after three girls, all related to each other, were found under similar circumstances in Unnao district on February 17 - two of them died.
The Aligarh police have sent the girl's body, found in the district's Akrabad area, for an autopsy and registered a case, forming five teams to investigate. Prima facie, they say, it appears that she was strangled. As the news spread, irate villagers pelted stones at a police party which was trying to take the body for post mortem, a PTI report said. Inspector Pranendra Kumar was injured in the attack, police added.
"The victim had gone out to get grass for fodder. The family and villagers began looking for her when she didn't return home even after a few hours. Later they found her body in a field," said Muniraj G, the Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police.
A few suspects are now being questioned, the Aligarh police tweeted today.
In the Unnao case, too, the three girls aged 14, 15, and 16 were working in a field. A man, whose advances were earlier spurned by one of the girls, allegedly gave them some snacks and also water laced with a herbicide named sulfosulfuron, according to the police. Two of the girls died after drinking the water while one survived. The third is battling for her life in a Kanpur hospital.
Two persons were later taken into custody in connection with that case.
AdvertisementIt had sparked a huge furore as political parties spoke about women's safety - or the lack of it - under this government. The Aligarh incident is only likely to add to that chorus.
