HAMIRPUR (UP), March 7: A week after two girls were found hanging from a tree in a field after they were allegedly gang-raped, the father of one of the victims was also found dead here, police said on Thursday.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Deeksha Sharma said, “The body of a 45-year-old man, resident of a village under the Sisolar police station area, was found hanging from a tree on Wednesday under unknown circumstances.”
Hamirpur police are yet to register an FIR regarding the alleged suicide.
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The deceased is the father of one of the girls who were found hanging in a village in Kanpur district on February 28. The victims and accused hailed from the same village in adjoining Hamirpur district, the police said.
According to the deceased father’s kin, he died allegedly by suicide as the accused’s family members were threatening them to compromise on the rape case.
SP Sharma, however, declined to comment on the allegations of the deceased’s family.
“Further action regarding the incident will be taken based on the complaint filed by the family members”, the SP said.
The gang-rape matter came to light when two girls aged 16 and 14 went missing on February 28 and hours later in the evening, their bodies were found hanging from a tree, 400 metres from a brick kiln in Kanpur, according to the police.
The girls’ family members had earlier alleged that the minors were gang-raped a few days before their deaths by the contractor of the brick kiln, Ramroop Nishad, (48), his son Raju (18) and nephew Sanjay (19).
The accused had also made a video of the act to blackmail the girls, which was recovered during the investigation, the police had earlier said.
The bodies were recovered on February 29 and all the three accused were arrested and sent to jail by Kanpur police the same day, they had said.
The accused have been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 376D (gang rape), 306 (abetment to suicide) and the Protection Of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi hit out at the state government over the incident.
“In Uttar Pradesh, if victimized girls and women ask for justice it has become a rule to destroy their families, from Unnao, Hathras to Kanpur- wherever women were tortured, their families were destroyed. Being a woman has become a crime in this jungle raj where there is no such thing as law left,” Gandhi wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
“After all, what should crores of women of the state do, where should they go?” she asked. (PTI)
