Related Articles
A 15-year-old girl from Mumbai was killed by her own family and relatives for not praying. On Friday, Mumbai police told the Bombay high court that the girl, a resident of Antop Hill, was killed about a month-and-half ago by her own family members for allegedly refusing to read the holy book and offer prayers.
After the judges sought to know the motive, additional public prosecutor informed the division bench of two judges that the girl was brutally assaulted by her uncle and aunt and then strangled to death with a dupatta, on May 4, after she refused to read the holy book and offer prayers, reported Hindustan Times.
The prosecutor added that the girl’s uncle and aunt took her body to a private hospital and claimed that she had fallen down in the bathroom. The hospital declared her dead, following which a post-mortem was conducted at Sion Hospital.
representational / reuters
The police registered an accidental death report (ADR) on the day of her death as per the details given by the family. However, section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was added when the post-mortem report revealed that there was ligature marks over the girl’s neck – indicating that the teenager was strangulated to death.
Eight people in total – including the girl’s uncle and aunt – have been booked for the purported murder. The court was hearing a petition filed by father of the girl, a widower, complaining that his teenaged daughter was raped before being killed, but the police did not take any note of his complaint.
The prosecutor, responding to the allegations said, the post-mortem conducted by doctors reveal the girl’s hymen was intact – implying that she was not sexually assaulted.
The bench felt that police should not have brushed aside the girl’s father’s allegations lightly and should have properly probed all angles. The girl’s father’s lawyer also refused to accept the motive behind the killing and said the theory of his daughter being killed because she refused to read the holy book and offer prayers was false and far fetched.
