Father of girl raped and hanged in India refuses compensation

The father of one of two teenagers whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in their village in northern India, after they had been gang raped, has said he will refuse compensation offered by local authorities.

Sohan Lal (50) said he wanted "justice, not money", and would not accept the 500,000 Indian rupees the government of Uttar Pradesh had offered him.

“What will I do with the money?” said Lal, who supports his family by farming half an acre of parched land.

Police say three suspects, all neighbours of the victims, have confessed to the attack in the remote village of Katra Sadatganj last week.

Murder and rape are crimes punishable by death under Indian law.

Series of incidents

It was the latest in a series of incidents in India involving extreme violence against women. The gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapist in Delhi in 2012 led to a series of reforms, which campaigners say have been ineffectual.

Angry relatives in Katra Sadatganj say the police ignored requests to search for the girls after they disappeared on Tuesday.

They protested by refusing to allow the bodies to be cut down from the tree when they were discovered.

Officials eventually removed the bodies after the first arrests were made on Wednesday.

Two police officers have been dismissed for failing to investigate the girls’ disappearance.

Two more have been detained pending “serious action”, said senior officers based in Badaun.

Search

The search for two additional suspects continued yesterday.

Sohan Lal said he was concerned for his elder daughter and relatives.

"I am scared after what happened. If something like this could happen to my daughter, it could happen to any other woman in the village," he said. – (Guardian Service)