Mayawati orders probe into girl's alleged rape & murder by cops

LUCKNOW: A second post mortem on the 14-year-old girl, found hanging inside a police station in Lakhimpur, has confirmed she was murdered. The Mayawati government has ordered a CB-CID probe into the incident, following the finding, which could not confirm rape.

The second post mortem was performed by a panel of doctors from Lucknow, after the body of the girl was exhumed from Nighasan town here. Divisional Commissioner, Lucknow, Prashant Trivedi and IGP Subesh Kumar claimed at a news conference in Lakhimpur that the girl was strangulated and had not died of asphyxia, caused by hanging, as mentioned in the first post mortem report.

The state government had rejected the first report and ordered a second post mortem after the incident sparked an outrage. Trivedi said suspension of the three doctors, who had conducted the first post mortem, had been recommended. An FIR had been also lodged against a sub-inspector and two policemen for allegedly tampering with evidence.

Missing since Friday evening, the girl was found hanging from a tree inside the premises of Nighasan police station. The victim's mother in her complaint had alleged that her daughter was raped and murdered.

The 14-year-old lived with her parents in a corner of the police compound. The cops at the police station had handed over the body to the family and asked them not to return until the last rites were performed. But the family protested, alleging that the girl was raped and murdered by policemen, which saw several political activists and the media taking up the issue.

As pressure grew, the police managed a post mortem report which said that the cause of death was due to hanging and claimed it was a suicide. The girls mother insisted that she was raped by three cops and then murdered.

The victims six-year-old brother Arman said that constable Surendra Pratap Singh and two other cops dragged his sister to a house in the police station while they were tending to their buffalo. Even after the second report, the girl's family insisted that she was raped by cops inside the Nighasan police station compound.