
UP Dalit girl found dead, 4 neighbours booked for murder and sexual assault: police
The police said all four accused named in the FIR were the girl's neighbours and that one of them was named in the molestation case as well. The other three accused are his close friends and a relative.
'No arrests have been made so far. The investigation is ongoing,' said a police officer.
According to officials, the police received information on Saturday about the body of a minor girl found at her home. Locals protested alleging that the girl was gang-raped and murdered by four men from the village and that one of them was accused in the earlier case.
The girl's family alleged that the accused had been threatening the girl to give a statement in his favour in the earlier case.
Om Prakash Singh, Superintendent of Police, Ballia, said no external injuries were found on the girl's body and that the postmortem report confirmed death by hanging.
During the preliminary inquiry, the police found that the initial information about the girl's death was given by a local man who is one of the accused in the molestation case filed by her sister-in-law. The police said all those accused in the molestation case were out on bail.
The girl's statement in that case was yet to be recorded in court.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Trial set to begin in IIT-Bombay student suicide case after accused withdraws plea
MUMBAI: Nearly two and a half years after the death by suicide of 18-year-old IIT-Bombay student Darshan Solanki, the trial against the main accused, Armaan Iqbal Khatri, is finally set to move forward. Khatri, 20, withdrew his plea seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings against him, clearing the path for the trial to begin in a sessions court. Trial set to begin in IIT-Bombay student suicide case after accused withdraws plea The development came during a hearing before a Bombay High Court bench of justice Ajay Gadkari and justice Rajesh Patil last Friday. Khatri's petition—filed in May 2023—was strongly opposed by both the Maharashtra government and Solanki's family. Following their arguments, Khatri chose to withdraw the plea, which the court permitted. Solanki, a first-year Dalit student of chemical engineering at IIT-Bombay, died by suicide on February 12, 2023, on the campus. His death triggered widespread protests and demands for an investigation into caste-based discrimination within elite educational institutions. Three weeks after the incident, Mumbai police recovered a one-line note from Solanki's room stating, 'Arman has killed me.' Based on this and other evidence, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the joint commissioner of crime arrested Khatri on April 9, 2023. He was booked under charges of abetment to suicide and sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and later granted bail. According to the SIT's findings, Solanki and Khatri had a heated exchange two days before the suicide, during which Solanki allegedly made a communal remark. Khatri, in response, reportedly threatened him with a paper cutter. Police claim the incident left Solanki deeply disturbed. That same night, he developed a fever and, in the following hours, sent Khatri apologetic WhatsApp messages, saying he intended to return home. 'The court noted that since the matter had already moved to the trial stage, the FIR could not be quashed at this point. As a result, the petition had become infructuous, and Khatri opted to withdraw it,' said Hitendra Gandi, counsel for Solanki's father.


Hindustan Times
12 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Dharmasthala rape-murders: Karnataka police examining steps to exhume bodies
Bengaluru: The Dakshina Kannada police in Karnataka are exploring the process to exhume human remains near the Nethravathi river after a former sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala temple alleged that he was forced to bury the bodies of several women and minors who were raped and murdered between 1998 and 2014. The Karnataka police said they have secured court permission to proceed with the case. (Representational image) District superintendent of police K Arun said that a first information report( FIR) has been registered at the Dharmasthala police station under Section 211(A) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. 'Based on the complaint filed by a person, we have registered a case. We have launched an investigation and are collecting more evidence. We have also taken steps to exhume the bodies. I am not sure when this process will take place, but we are on our way to do it,' he told HT. The complainant, a Dalit man who worked as a sanitation worker at the temple until 2014, has approached the police through his lawyers, alleging he was coerced by supervisors into secretly disposing of bodies of girls and women, some of whom he says were minors in school uniforms. The man has not named individuals in the complaint, citing threats to his life, but has indicated he would reveal names after receiving formal protection. 'I buried these bodies near the Nethravathi River. Some victims were minor girls in school uniforms. One girl aged between 12 to 15 was strangled and buried with her school bag. Another young woman's face was burned with acid before I was forced to cremate her remains secretly,' the man said in his complaint. According to the application filed under the Witness Protection Scheme, the man has requested immediate safety for himself and his family, saying, 'I am ready to disclose the full details of all the accused persons, including the names and their specific roles, as soon as I and my family are granted protection under the Witness Protection Act 2018. I am filing this complaint with full knowledge of the consequences of submitting false information. I confirm that the above is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.' The complaint was submitted on July 3 by Bengaluru-based lawyers Ojaswi Gowda and Sachin Deshpande. An FIR was registered the following day. The lawyers said they were satisfied with the police action so far. 'The man is facing threats, hence his identity has been kept confidential. We are satisfied that the police have registered an FIR and taken the first steps,' advocate Gowda told HT. Photographic evidence of what the complainant says is one of the burial sites, has been submitted to police, and he has offered to assist the investigation by identifying locations. He has also expressed willingness to undergo scientific tests such as a polygraph. The police have secured court permission to proceed with the case, and the complaint is being handled under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita's provisions. The process of exhumation is being planned as part of the next phase of the investigation. Meanwhile, authorities are considering the complainant's request for protection under the Witness Protection Scheme, which mandates that a district-level committee, comprising the Principal District and Sessions Judge, the jurisdictional police chief, and the head of prosecution, assess the threat and recommend security measures. The committee may approve steps ranging from police escorts and in-camera court proceedings to relocation or change of identity, depending on the outcome of a Threat Analysis Report to be submitted by police. The complainant claims he fled Dharmasthala in 2014, relocating with his family to a neighbouring state after years of silent compliance under threat. His decision to come forward now, he says, stems from guilt and a need to seek justice for the unnamed victims.


Indian Express
12 hours ago
- Indian Express
Ludhiana: Dalit teen ‘paraded half-naked with blackened face', 1 arrested
A 17-year-old Dalit teenager was allegedly paraded half-naked with his face blackened in the streets of Seeda village in Ludhiana district, after being accused of helping his friend in eloping with a woman. The humiliating act, allegedly carried out by the woman's family, was recorded on video and widely circulated in the area. Police said that the incident was the fallout of a love marriage solemnized by Gurpreet Singh, a resident of the village, who eloped with a young woman on June 19. Suspecting the victim of helping the couple escape and solemnize inter-caste marriage, members of the woman's family humiliated him. The victim said that on July 1 when he was present at a local salon when a group of men—identified as Gurpreet alias Gopa, Simranjeet Singh alias Simma, Sandeep alias Sam, Rajveer, and Ramandeep alias Kaka—barged inside, dragged him out, and assaulted him. They blackened his face, shaved his beard and moustache, tore his clothes, and then marched him semi-naked through the village. The victim added that when he tried to escape the accused chased and thrashed him. The accused made him sit on the road and kept on filming the act. He alleged that caste-based slurs were also hurled at him. The video was also circulated by the accused and it went viral. Police said that an FIR was registered at Meharban police station under the sections of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) including 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 351 (criminal Intimidation), as well as under Sections 66A and 67B of the Information and technology Act, and provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. One accused has been arrested so far, and police say more arrests are likely as the investigation progresses. 'This is not only a case of physical assault but a grave violation of human dignity,' said a senior police officer, adding that the couple who got married were both adults. 'We are treating the matter with the utmost seriousness,' police said. Inspector Paramdeep Singh, SHO at Meharban Police station said that Simarjeet Singh alias Simma has been arrested and hunt is on to nab the rest.