Child raped and strangled to death in Uttar Pradesh

A six-year-old girl was strangulated to death after being raped in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district. The girl was found dead in a field a day after she had gone missing from her village.

Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh): A six-year-old girl, who had gone missing, was found dead in a sugarcane field in her village in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district on Saturday.

The child had strangulation marks on her neck and was raped before being murdered.

The child had gone missing from her village home in Madho Tanda police station area on the evening of November 6 when she had gone to a religious event, following which her family members lodged a case of kidnapping, suspecting rape as the motive, Pilibhit Superintendent of Police Jaiprakash Yadav said.

The body of the child was found the following morning at a sugarcane field in the area, following which it was sent for postmortem.

The post-mortem report confirmed that the child was raped and strangulated to death, Yadav informed.

Meanwhile, the police have taken a suspect into custody for questioning. The youth was said to be near the crime spot and his slipper was also found there, the SP said.

Meanwhile, former state minister Hemraj Verma, who visited the family of the victim, accused the police of attempting to forcefully cremate the body of the child.

"The mother of the victim said they would not perform the last rites till they are provided help. But the police wanted to forcefully cremate the body. There definitely is jungle raj in the state," he said.