Two India girls 'gang-raped' and hanged in Uttar Pradesh

Two Indian girls found hanging from a tree in a village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh had been gang raped,
police say. One man has been held over the murders and three policemen removed from duty for not registering cases when the girls were reported missing.


The girls were found in Badaun district and are thought to be in their early to mid teens and from the Dalit community.
Violence and discrimination against women remain deeply entrenched. Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.

The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following that attack. Senior police official Atul Saxena told the BBC the two girls, who were cousins, were found hanging from a tree in Katra Shahadatganj village in Badaun district on Wednesday morning.

He said the police were looking for two more men in connection with the alleged rape and hanging.
The post mortem and cremation of the girls was completed on Wednesday and further test results are expected.
"We are still investigating how the girls went missing and were allegedly raped and hung from a tree," Mr Saxena said.

Earlier this year a 20-year-old tribal woman was gang raped in eastern West Bengal state allegedly on orders of village elders who objected to her relationship with a man.