In a suspected case of honour killing, a 14-year old scheduled caste girl, who was pregnant, was 'beheaded' by her father and elder brother in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district, about 175 kilometres from Lucknow.
According to the police sources here, the body of the minor and the severed head were recovered from near a 'nullah' (drain), a few metres away from her native village of Dulhipur in the district on Tuesday.
Police said that the minor had been having an affair with someone and was four months pregnant. She refused to reveal the name of the father of the unborn child despite being thrashed mercilessly by her father and brother.
Around a fortnight back, the duo hit the minor with an axe severing her head. They then buried the body and the severed head in a field near the nullah.
On Tuesday, some people saw a portion of the body protruding out of the soil and informed the cops.
During interrogation, the father and brother of the girl allegedly admitted to killing the minor. ''She was pregnant though she was unmarried.. she also did not reveal the name of the father of the unborn child,'' her father Jagodhar told the cops.
The SP said the accused wanted to marry his daughter to the man with whom she was in a relationship.
The duo showed no remorse and said that they were left with no option but to kill the minor as the revelation that she was pregnant would have resulted in a social boycott of the family.
"The girl's elder brother is also involved in the murder and we have booked both of them under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence)," a local police spokesman said.
The police is also trying to identify the person responsible for the girl's pregnancy, he said, adding a probe is on in the matter.