Three policemen and an elderly woman were reportedly injured during violent protests by a mob after a five-year-old girl was allegedly found murdered in Lucknow on Sunday, 30 December.
Protesters blocked a road in the state capital after the girl's body was discovered in Mahanagar locality on Sunday. When the police attempted to disperse the crowd, the protesters took to pelting stones, reported Hindustan Times.
This is the third time that police personnel have been attacked in Uttar Pradesh in December. On 3 December, police Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was killed in mob violence after alleged cow slaughter in Bulandshahr district of the state. Police Head Constable Suresh Vats was killed in Ghazipur on 29 December, when protesters hurled stones at vehicles soon after a rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi nearby.
A 14-year-old boy has admitted to killing the girl in Lucknow, the report quoted police as saying. His father and elder brother will also be charged for allegedly concealing the crime.
“As per the teengager’s statement, he strangled the girl in a fit of rage when she hit him with a stick while playing near her house. He stuffed the girl’s body in a sack and dumped it in the Kukrail drain flowing towards the Paper Mill Colony area and disappeared from his house.”Circle Officer Santosh Singh, as quoted by Hindustan Times
Police are investigating if the victim was raped or sexually assaulted.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times.)
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