Two minor girls, aged 16 and 14, were found dead on Thursday, 28 February, after allegedly being gang raped by two men in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur.
The families of the girls, who were cousins, claimed that two men forced them to drink liquor, gang raped them, and filmed objectionable videos of them in Kanpur's Ghatampur area on 27 February.
Victims' families beaten up: When the girls reported the matter to their kin, they immediately complained to the family of the accused, who are said to be powerful contractors in the area. However, the family of the accused allegedly beat them up.
"Distressed by this incident, and fearing public shame, both of them died by suicide," the father of one of the victims said in his complaint to the police.
The grandfather of one of the victims said while speaking to the press that the family of the accused had offered them Rs 5 lakh to hush the matter.
3 Arrested
Meanwhile, three accused persons have been arrested in connection with the incident. A case has been made out under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, and the Information Technology (Amendment) Act.
A case has also been filed against the family members of the accused persons.
Speaking to The Quint, District Commissioner of Police (South) Ravindra Kumar said that the families of the victims claimed that the alleged objectionable videos taken by the accused were being used to blackmail them.
"We have already recovered the phones of two of the accused. Till now we have not found any objectionable video in one of them; maybe he has deleted it. If so, efforts will be made to recover it," he said.
Regarding the phone of the other accused, Kumar said that the device is locked and that they have not yet been able to retrieve the password.
Cause of death: Meanwhile, senior officials said that it has not yet been confirmed whether the deaths are due to murder or suicide.
"The post-mortem is being conducted by a panel of doctors. The cause of death and other things will become clear only after the post-mortem report comes," an official said.
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