Badaun repeated: Minor hanged from tree after rape

3 youths assault girl returning home from a function

A 16-year-old girl was reportedly gang-raped by three youths before being hanged from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Baharaich district, about 200 km from here.

The shocking incident occurred in Baundi area in the district on Friday night. The body was found hanging from a tree just outside the village on Saturday.

According to police sources here, one of the accused, identified as Arun Kumar, was arrested and a massive manhunt had been launched to nab the other two culprits.

Sources said that the victim was returning home along with her friend after attending a function in the village at night when Arun and two others kidnapped her. Her friend managed to escape and informed the victim’s family about the incident.

The family and other residents of the village launched a search operations but the victim remained untraced. Arun was also not found at home. 

The body of the victim was found hanging from a tree on Saturday morning, the police said. They said that prima facie it appeared that the victim had been raped.

Arun was later nabbed by the police. The family members of the victim said that Arun had been stalking the victim for the past several months. “We had tried to persuade him not harass the girl... even Arun’s parents had admonished him several times but he did not heed them”, said a family member. The police said that special teams had been formed to nab the other two culprits.

A few months back, two cousins were reportedly gang-raped and later hanged from a tree at a village in the Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh.

Though the CBI had disputed the incident, a local court was currently hearing a petition filed by the families of the girls challenging the agency’s theory.