A 21-year-old man accused of raping a Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj was found dead in the district jail on Sunday, reported PTI.
Jail Superintendent Vishnukant Mishra said that the prison warden found the man hanging from a water pipeline with a towel. He has been identified as Abhinav alias Prakhar Singh, a higher secondary student, according to Hindustan.
It is not clear how the man reached the water pipeline located on the upper parts of the jail.
District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Mishra has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter, the jail superintendent said.
Singh was arrested on March 24, the day his intermediate exams had begun. The complainant had accused Singh of raping her on the pretext of marriage.
In a similar incident in Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man named Altaf was found dead in November inside the Kasganj police station after he was taken for questioning in a case related to the kidnapping of a Hindu woman.
The police had claimed that Altaf had hanged himself from a tap in the washroom – situated just two to three feet above the ground – using the drawstring of his jacket hood. Altaf’s family had alleged that he was murdered in police custody.
When the woman who was allegedly abducted was found, the police had dropped kidnapping charges against Altaf. They had also said she was not a minor as claimed by the woman’s father in his complaint.
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