Teen held for murder of girl after rape bid

AGRA: A 17-year-old boy was detained on Wednesday for allegedly strangling a 17-year-old Dalit girl to death after she resisted a rape attempt in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district, officials said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on Sunday afternoon, when the girl went to a wheat field, owned by the family of the accused, to collect fodder and water. When she did not return home till evening, her family started a search, and her body was found in a field.

The post-mortem report showed she was strangled to death, the officials said.

According to senior superintendent of police (SSP) Muniraj G the accused took the girl to a field where he could not be seen by passersby, and strangled her with her dupatta when she resisted the rape attempt.

The police initially filed a case against an unknown persons at the Akarabad police station under Sections 376/302 (rape and murder) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of the Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.

The accused was questioned as his family owned a field near spot where the girl’s body was found, the officials said. During interrogation, he confessed to have committed the crime, the officials said.

“The accused admitted that he went to a wheat field and was watching a pornographic film on his mobile. He said that he saw the girl, and he knew her because he used to go to her house. She came for water to the field owned by the family of the accused,” the Aligarh SSP said.

Relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have been added to the FIR, the SSP said.

Though the most stringent punishments under some of the IPC, Pocso and SC/ST Act sections include life imprisonment and even death, minors are tried in Juvenile Court.

In 2019, Uttar Pradesh reported the most number of crimes against women, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.