The accused will be charged with rape, murder and the National Security Act. (Representational)
Lucknow:
A 13-year-old girl was raped and killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district and her body found in a sugarcane field, the police said on Saturday, in yet another horrific case that has emerged from the state in recent days. Two men from her village have been arrested.
She had been strangled, her eyes were gouged out and her tongue cut, the girl’s father said. The incident took place on Friday, around 130 km from Lucknow, in a village close to the Nepal border. Her body was found in the fields of one of the accused
“The girl’s post mortem has confirmed rape. The two accused had been arrested already. We will file charges for rape, murder and also under the National Security Act,” said the district police chief.
The girl had gone missing on Friday afternoon. “We went looking for her everywhere. Found her in the sugarcane field. Her eyes had been gouged out. Her tongue was cut and strangled with a dupatta,” the father of the girl said.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati condemned the incident on Twitter calling it “extremely shameful”. “What is the difference between the governments of the Samajwadi Party and the present BJP if such incidents keep happening?” she said, attacking the Yogi Adityanath administration.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad also commented on the incident. “Dalit oppression is at its peak under the BJP government… If it is not the Jungle Raj, then what is? Our daughters are not safe, our homes are not safe, there is an atmosphere of fear everywhere. Yogi (Adityanath) resign,” he said.
Last week, a 6-year-old girl in western Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur, less than 100 km from Delhi, was kidnapped and raped. The police arrested the accused on Friday. The girl remains at a hospital and has been through at least one surgery. Doctors say she is stable but not out of danger.
