Days after two teenage girls were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad area, the local police on Thursday announced that an FIR has been filed, and arrests have been made in connection with the case.
The police stated that the accused, identified as Pawan and Deepak, were booked under Section 173 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sahita (BNSS), which deals with procedures for reporting and handling information related to the commission of cognizable offences.
According to the police, the accused were reportedly in a relationship with the deceased girls but were also talking on the phone with other girls, which might have triggered the two victims to take such an extreme step.
It is pertinent to note that the two girls, aged 15 and 18, had gone to attend a program at a nearby temple on the occasion of Janmashtami but did not return home by early morning. Their parents reported that they had conducted a thorough search for the girls but only received information about their whereabouts around 6 a.m., after some locals noted that someone was hanging from a tree in the orchard. "Around 6 a.m., we reached there and found the girls hanging. We think someone killed them and hung their bodies," a parent said.
Meanwhile, the police stated that along with the bodies of the two girls, a SIM card and phone were also retrieved, which led to the arrest of the two accused. The SIM card was registered under the name of the accused Deepak. The police added that both the accused were reportedly in touch with the deceased via the same SIM card and had regular conversations with them. When the girls discovered that the accused were also talking to other girls, it may have led them to take this extreme step. Moreover, the families of the deceased have urged authorities to take stringent action against the two accused.
Additionally, it is worth noting that Samajawadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav demanded a swift investigation into the case. He stated that such incidents create an environment of fear in society.
Calling the incident sensitive, Mr. Yadav said in a post on X, "The BJP government should immediately conduct a fair investigation and clarify this suspected case of murder. Such incidents create an atmosphere of fear in society and deeply hurt the women in the community."
"The time has come to rise above politics and treat women's safety as a serious issue," the Lok Sabha MP added.
