A 17-year-old girl was allegedly killed by her grandfather and uncles in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria district on Monday, The Times of India reported. Her body was seen hanging from a bridge for several hours before the police retrieved it.
The girl’s mother said that the grandfather and uncles objected to the girl’s clothes, which led to a confrontation between them. The police, however, have not said on record why she was killed.
The police have arrested the girl’s grandfather and an auto driver, and are searching for the remaining accused.
The 17-year-old and her mother had recently gone to Deoria to live with the relatives of the girl’s father, who is a migrant worker in Punjab. The teen had reportedly taken a liking for western wear after a brief stay in Ludhiana, but some of her relatives put pressure on her to wear Indian clothing when she returned to her village.
“She was on a fast and wore jeans and a top after her evening bath. [She was] going for a puja when she was told off by the [grand]father for her attire, but she resisted,” NDTV quoted the girl’s mother as saying. “They then attacked her with sticks, said they were taking her away to get medical aid but threw her off the bridge.”
Deoria’s Superintendent of Police Sripati Mishra said that the girl had an argument with her grandfather and abused him. Two or three of her uncles then assaulted her and she fell unconscious, he said. “The relatives were then taking her to hospital, but she died on the way,” Mishra said. “They tried to dump the body, but it got stuck on the river bridge.”
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