On Wednesday, the bodies of two cousins, ages 16 and 14, were discovered dangling from a tree in the village of Barauli in Uttar Pradesh. A day earlier, they had reportedly been intimidated and threatened into keeping quiet. In this case, three men have been taken into custody.
The family of the girls alleges that the accused had previously harassed them sexually.
In the village in the Ghatampur district of Kanpur, the family discovered the children’s bodies at around midnight, hanging from a jujube tree with nooses made from dupattas. The incident has been linked to the gangrapes that occurred in Budaun in 2014 and Lakhimpur Kheri in 2022. But in this instance, no caste angle has been established as of yet.
Rajjo, one of the accused, is the son of labour contractor Ramroop, who brought the girls’ family from his village to work at a brick kiln in Barauli. Ramroop is from Khair Ka Dera village in Hamirpur, according to the police. Sanjay, the cousin of Rajjo, is the other accused. The family of the girls alleges that Ramroop attempted to intimidate them into silence and is named in the FIR as well.
The family claimed that on Monday, they confronted Rajjo over allegedly offensive photos and videos he had of the 16-year-old victim. One day later, it is said that Rajjo and Sanjay, without their father or brother present, broke into the girls’ house and sexually assaulted them. The girls were allegedly also beaten up and told not to talk about it.
[adinserter name="One"]Media was informed by a senior Kanpur police officer that the girls suffered from trauma following their family’s reprimands regarding the images and videos. A day later, they claimed that the gangrape had driven them to commit suicide.
“Earlier sexual harassment was experienced”
The family of the girls resides in a kuccha house, which is one of several homes constructed from tiny, unburned bricks. A few metres separate Ramroop and Rajjo’s residence from this cluster.
The 14-year-old is her cousin, and the 16-year-old is the second of her parents’ five children. The fathers of the girls work in the brick kiln, as does one of their uncles.
Media was informed by the 16-year-old girl’s older brother, who works in a nearby store, that Rajjo’s uncle, who operates a brick kiln, learned on Monday that Rajjo possessed offensive images and videos of his sister.
“I went up to Rajjo and requested that he give me his phone, but he refused. After a while, he gave his uncle the phone, who removed the pictures and videos before giving it to me. I got into a fight with them and asked if they thought I was a fool,” he said.
The brother claimed that the following day, while he and his father were out, Rajjo and his cousin Sanjay broke into their kuccha house and sexually assaulted the girls.
For a while now, Rajjo had been harassing my sister sexually. My younger sister later informed us about it, but we were unaware at the time. On Tuesday, my father was in Hamirpur for the harvest. I was in the store. The brother stated, “Two of my younger sisters and their cousin were by themselves at the house.
“My sisters were tricked by Rajjo and Sanjay when they came to our house with promises of money. They made them smoke bidis and consume alcohol. After that, they recorded the girls being raped,” he claimed.
He claimed that his younger sister saw what happened.
[adinserter name="Four"]The girls told our aunt, who lives close by, about their ordeal. “He beat up my aunt when she confronted Ramroop on Tuesday,” he said.
On Thursday, the girls’ grandfather revealed to the media that Rajjo and Sanjay had been tormenting the girls for a few days.
“They would abduct the girls, force them to consume alcohol, smoke bidis, and harass them.” Ramroop promised us Rs 5 lakh if we didn’t file a complaint. He claimed to be a contractor and to be extremely wealthy.
[adinserter name="Five"]The owner of the brick kiln was informed about the altercation between the families of the labour contractor and the girls, but he said nothing while Ramroop threatened to forbid labourers from working at the location, according to the brother.
The girls’ decision to take their own lives was influenced by the news that was circulating among the labourers in brick kilns, according to their family.
[adinserter name="Six"]“My father and I had dinner prepared by my sister on Wednesday night. She gave us a loving serving while informing us that she and our cousin were heading to the fields to urinate. But when they didn’t come back until eight o’clock at night, we started to worry and started looking for them. The brother stated, “My father saw their bodies dangling from the jujube tree with the torn dupatta.”
Harish Chander, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) for Kanpur, stated in a statement dated February 29 that the Ghatampur police learned about the bodies at 1:30 p.m.
[adinserter name="Seven"]Harish Chander, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) for Kanpur, stated in a statement dated February 29 that the Ghatampur police learned about the bodies at 1:30 p.m.
“The girls’ family members claimed that prior to the gangrape, the girls had been beaten and their videos had been taken in inappropriate settings. All three of the accused were taken into custody. We’ll take additional legal action once we have the postmortem reports for the girls. He said, “A forensic team has taken pictures and videos of the crime scene.
[adinserter name="Eight"]IPC sections 376D (gangrape), 306 (abetment of suicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult to provoke someone), POCSO, and IT Act sections have all been the subject of a formal complaint filed by the police.
Media was informed by ACP (Ghatampur) Ranjeet Kumar that they are awaiting the postmortem reports. The girls were discovered near the brick kiln, hanging from a tree. The family claims they were gangraped, but they haven’t disclosed the location. Although there is a lot of hearsay circulating, the postmortem reports will serve as a foundation for our inquiry. We must wait for the reports and hold off until then,” he stated.
