Lucknow: A 13-year-old girl, who went missing while on way back home from a local madrassa on Sunday, was found dead in a cane field at a village in Lakhimpur Kheri district. A senior cop, privy to the investigation, said on Tuesday that the accused had gagged the student’s mouth with mud, pierced her eyes with sugarcane stalks and tortured her before killing her.
“An autopsy was conducted by a panel of doctors and a probe is on to find out whether she was sexually assaulted,” the police officer added. An FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) was registered against “unidentified persons” following a complaint by the victim’s family.
Additional SP, Naipal Singh, said, “The case has been taken up on priority and senior officials are monitoring the investigation. Four teams are working on the leads and the forensic team is collecting evidence. We are taking support from the surveillance team and anti-social elements of the area are under the scanner. We are hoping for a breakthrough soon.”
A member of the autopsy team, requesting anonymity, said, “There were seven deep wounds on the girl’s body. She must have gone through enormous pain. She was definitely tortured before murder. We have seen bruises near her private parts and samples have been taken for confirmation of sexual assault through lab tests.”
The victim’s family, who are marginal farmers, alleged that their daughter was also violated by the accused. Her mother claimed that police initially didn’t take their complaint seriously on Sunday. “My daughter didn’t deserve such a horrific death,” she said.
The body was handed over to the family but the latter refused to go ahead with the cremation. They demanded immediate arrest of the accused and compensation. Notably, the family hasn’t named any individual in the police complaint so far.
