The bodies of two missing schoolgirls in Kanpur Dehat were found dead in neighbouring Etawah
The bodies of two teenage girls, missing for two days from their village in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat district, were found on Wednesday evening in the Chambal ravines of the adjoining Etawah district, about 130 km from home. A third girl, their friend and like them a student of Class 11, is still missing.
The girls' parents have alleged that when they complained to the local police, hours after the girls went missing on Monday, the cops refused to register a case and told the families to conduct a search themselves. One policeman has been suspended.
The police suspect that the girls whose bodies have been found were sexually assaulted and murdered. A preliminary medical examination of one of the bodies has indicated that the girl was hit with a blunt object.
"We will have more details after the post mortem. One of the girls has marks on her face, injury marks, perhaps from assault or the because of an animal, we will know more soon," said Vaibhav Krishna, a senior police officer in Etawah.
The parents of one of the girls have identified her body. The second girl's family is yet to confirm it is her body.
It is not clear how the girls got so far from home and in the ravines, where many gangs of dacoits operate. All three had left together on Monday morning for school, which is not far from their village.
"She finished classes at 11 am. When she did not return, we called the police in the evening. They told us 'look for the girl on your own for two to three days then we will see,' " said the father of one of the girls
Senior officials said the allegation is being investigated. "The families had met a sub inspector in the police station and prima facie we found that the sub inspector refused to register a case and help the families. He has been suspended," said Dinesh Pal Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kanpur Dehat.
A kidnapping and murder case has been registered against a 19-year-old man from a village 10 km away from the girls' village. He was reportedly friends with one of the girls and was in regular touch with her. The parents of one of the girls have named him in their FIR.
The police said they are analysing details of phone calls between the young man and the girl.