NEW DELHI, Aug 27: The bodies of two teen-aged girls were found hanging from a tree outside a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad on Tuesday. The police have launched an investigation into what it prima facie believed to be a case of double suicide.
According to the family members, the two girls aged 15 and 18, went to attend a Janmashtami programme on Monday evening, but did not return. Later, on Tuesday morning, their bodies were found hanging in a mango orchard.
Police have recovered a phone from the spot and also found a SIM card on one of the girls.
The father of one of the girls said they had gone to attend a programme at the nearby temple on the occasion of Janmashtami. “They went in the evening and returned around 9 pm because it had started raining. Later, in the night, they went again. The programme ended around 1 am. When they did not return, we started looking for them. A child said they slept at their aunt’s place. We went there, but did not find them. Many of our relatives stay there, so we thought they must have slept there and will return in the morning.”
In the morning, he said, one of their acquaintances informed that someone is hanging from a tree in the orchard. “Around 6 am, we reached here and found the girls hanging. We think someone killed them and hanged their bodies,” he said.
Chilling visuals showed the girls hanging dead with two dupattas tied together. District police chief Alok Priyadarshi said the two girls were close friends. “The autopsy will reveal details about the case. We have found a phone and a SIM card. We are using them to gather information and speaking to the family members. The matter will be investigated in detail and action taken,” he said. The bodies have been sent for autopsy and a forensic team collected evidence from the spot.
Mr Priyadarshi said the bodies were recovered outside a village in the Kayamganj police station area on Tuesday morning and a probe is underway into the matter. “Upon being alerted about it, a local police team reached the spot for inspection. The girls are said to be 15 and 18 years old. They are said to be close friends and lived in the same neighbourhood. The bodies were hanging with two ‘dupattas’ which were tied together,” the SP added. The necks of the two girls were tied at each end of the ‘dupatta’ which went across the tree.
Prime facie it appears to be a case of suicide but the details could be ascertained only after the post-mortem report, he said. The families of the girls have been contacted and a written complaint is being received from them, he said.
Following the incident, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded swift investigation into the case by the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government and said such incidents create a horrific atmosphere in the society.
Taking to X, he wrote, “It is a very sensitive incident that the bodies of two girls, who had gone out to see the Janmashtami festival in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, were found hanging from a tree. The BJP government should immediately conduct an impartial inquiry into this matter and submit its report on this suspicious case of murder.” “Such incidents create a horrific atmosphere in society, which causes a deep mental trauma to the women in society. The inevitable time has come to raise ‘women safety’ as a serious issue, rising above politics,” he added.
Earlier in 2014, a horrific incident unfolded in the state of Uttar Pradesh when two minor girls, who were cousins and belonged to the Dalit community were kidnapped, gang raped and hanged from a tree in Katra Sadatganj village in UP’s Badaun district.
(Manas Dasgupta)