Two teenage girls found hanged in Uttar Pradesh village, family accuses murder

The girls, aged 15 and 18, were found hanging from a tree this morning

Lucknow:

Two girls, aged 15 and 18, were found dead hanging from a tree in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh today. Family members said the girls had gone to attend a Janmashtami programme last night but did not return. Their bodies were found in a mango orchard this morning.

Police recovered a phone from the scene and also found a SIM card on one of the girls.

The father of one of the girls said that they had gone to attend a programme at a nearby temple on the occasion of Janmashtami. “They went there in the evening and returned around 9 pm as it had started raining. Later that night, they returned. The programme ended around 1 am. When they did not return, we started looking for them. One child said that they had slept at their aunt’s house. We went there but could not find them. Many of our relatives live there, so we thought that they must have slept there and would return in the morning.”

In the morning, he said, one of their acquaintances informed that someone was hanging from a tree in the orchard. “Around 6 am, we reached here and found the girls hanging. We think someone killed them and hung their bodies,” he said.

Chilling footage showed the girls hanging dead with two dupattas tied together.

District police chief Alok Priyadarshi said the two girls were close friends. “The postmortem will reveal details of the case. We have found a phone and a SIM card. We are using them to collect information and talk to the family members. The case will be investigated in detail and action will be taken,” he said.

The bodies were sent for autopsy and a forensic team collected evidence from the scene.

Akhilesh Yadav, leader of Uttar Pradesh’s main opposition Samajwadi Party, demanded a speedy investigation and said such incidents create a climate of fear in the society.

Calling the incident sensitive, Mr Yadav said in a message on X: “The BJP government should immediately conduct a fair investigation and clarify the situation in this alleged murder case. Such incidents create an atmosphere of fear in the society and deeply hurt the women community.”

“The time has come to rise above politics and treat women’s safety as a serious issue,” the Lok Sabha MP added.