Pressurised to 'compromise', UP rape victim kills self

Alleged police inaction and pressure to compromise 'forced' a gang-rape victim to kill herself in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district, about 40 kilometres from here.

According to the reports, the victim, a law student, committed suicide by hanging herself with her 'dupatta' (scarf) in her room in Jehangirabad area in the district on Tuesday night.

Sources said that the law student had allegedly been raped by two persons, with one of them being a revenue clerk, while she was on way to her college from home in September last year.

The duo had kidnapped the girl from the bust stop and allegedly gang-raped her after taking her to a secluded spot. A case was registered after the intervention of the court, sources said.

''The police did not arrest the accused......the duo threatened us with dire consequences if the complaint was not withdrawn,'', the mother of the victim said.

She said her daughter was ''very upset'' at the failure of the police arrest the accused persons and the threats and committed suicide.

The district police, however, claimed that there was a dispute between the revenue clerk and the mother of the victim overpayment of money and that the former had also lodged a complaint against her in this regard.

''We are investigating the matter and will take action on the basis of evidence,'' said a senior district police official in Barabanki on Wednesday.

Barely a couple of months back a gang-rape victim had been set ablaze by two accused persons in Unnao district. The victim later succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. The incident had triggered a nationwide outrage.

Cases of crimes against the women have registered a sharp increase in the state in the past few months.