Scheduled Caste girl gang raped in Uttar Pradesh, suffers paralysis

A girl belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community was gang raped by four youths, who also tried to strangle her and in the process inflicted serious injuries on her, leaving her critical and paralysed, in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district, about 400 kilometres from Lucknow.

According to the police sources, all the four accused, who hail from the native village of the victim, have been arrested.

The victim, who suffered serious injuries on her neck, face, back and stomach, is stated to be in a 'critical' condition and had to be put on ventilator at a hospital in the neighbouring Aligarh town.

Police officials in Hathras said that the victim was forcibly taken to a field by the youths and was gang-raped a few days back. The matter came to light on Saturday after the victim told the attending doctors that she had been gang-raped.

The perpetrators tried to kill her as she knew them. ''The accused tried to strangle her....in the process a portion of her tongue was chopped and she also sustained serious injuries on her neck,'' said an official in Hathras.

The doctors said that the victim is paralysed in all four limbs and is in a critical condition.

The opposition parties condemned the incident and accused the Yogi Adityanath government of failing to ensure the safety of the women in the state.

''What happened with this Dalit girl is really shocking....this government has failed completely on the law and order front...women are not safe under this regime,'' said a UP Congress leader in Lucknow on Sunday.