UP teen murdered not raped, says fresh postmortem

A fresh postmortem on a 14-year-old girl, who was found hanging inside a police station Lakhimpur, on Monday confirmed she was murdered but could not arrive at the conclusion whether she was raped even as the Mayawati government ordered a CB-CID probe into the incident.

The second post mortem was performed by a panel of doctors from Lucknow after the body of the girl was exhumed from Nighasan town in Lakhimpur.

Divisional Commissioner, Lucknow, Prashant Trivedi and Inspector General of Police Subesh Kumar told newsmen that the girl was strangulated and had not died due to asphyxia, caused by the hanging, as mentioned in the first report.

After the incident sparked an outrage, the state government rejected the earlier autopsy report and ordered a new post mortem by a panel of doctors from other districts.

Trivedi said suspension of the three doctors who had conducted the first post mortem had been recommended.

An FIR had been lodged against a sub-inspector and two policemen for allegedly tampering with evidence. Missing since Friday evening, the girl was found hanging from a tree inside the premises of Nighasan Police Station.

The victim's mother in her complaint had alleged that her daughter was raped and murdered.

A 10-member team of the CB-CID, which has been asked to submit its report within a week, visited the scene of the incident.

The team, led by SP Shriprakash Tripathi, examined records at the police station and recorded statements of the girl's family.

Eleven policemen posted at Nighasan Police Station had been suspended after the girl's body was found.

Condemning the incident as "shocking and barbaric", opposition parties said the law and order had deteriorated in the state.

Cong for CBI probe into UP girl's murder

Meanwhile, sharpening its attack on the Mayawati government, Congress demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case, saying the CB-CID inquiry ordered by the UP government was meant to "cover up" the issue.

"The law and order of Uttar Pradesh is getting from bad to worse and now murders are taking place even in police stations. We do not have faith in the state police and demand a CBI inquiry into the incident," said senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh.

Singh, who is All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of UP, alleged that the state police wanted to suppress the issue and hence a thorough probe should be held into the matter to fix responsibility from top to bottom.

"Law and order in Uttar Pradesh was bad in Mulayam Singh Yadav's time and it has gone worse now because BSP leaders and workers interfere in posting and transfer of police officers," he said.