The father of a gang-rape and alleged suicide victim, allegedly killed himself in Hamirpur district, a week after his daughter and along with another girl were gang-raped and later found hanging from a tree in a village of adjoining Kanpur district in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh News: In a shocking incident, the father of a gangrape and alleged suicide victim, allegedly killed himself in Hamirpur district, a week after his daughter and along with another girl were gang-raped and later found hanging from a tree in a village of adjoining Kanpur district in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, the deceased was found dead, hanging from a tree, under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday night. The man’s family has alleged that he was forced to take the extreme step as the kin of the accused were threatening them to compromise on the rape case, police said.

“The body of a 45-year-old man, resident of a village under the Sisolar police station area, was found hanging from a tree on Wednesday under unknown circumstances,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Deeksha Sharma.

The officer, however, declined to comment on the allegations of the deceased’s family.

“Further action regarding the incident will be taken based on the complaint filed by the family members”, the SP said.

Hamirpur police are yet to register an FIR regarding the alleged suicide.

Uttar Pradesh gangrape, suicide

The deceased is the father of one of the two girls who were found hanging in a village in Kanpur district last week. The two minor girls, aged 16 and 14, were allegedly gang-raped after they went missing on February 28.

Hours later, in the evening, their bodies were found hanging from a tree, 400 metres from a brick kiln in Kanpur, the police had said, adding that the victims and accused hailed from the same village in adjoining Hamirpur district.

Earlier, the family members of the two girls had alleged that the minors were gang-raped a few days before their deaths by the contractor of the brick kiln, Ramroop Nishad, (48), his son Raju (18) and nephew Sanjay (19).

The accused had also made a video of the act to blackmail the girls, which was recovered during the investigation, the police had earlier said.

The bodies were recovered on February 29 and all the three accused were arrested and sent to jail by Kanpur police the same day, they had said.

The accused have been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 376D (gang rape), 306 (abetment to suicide) and the Protection Of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Priyanka attacks UP government

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi hit out at the state government over the incident.

“In Uttar Pradesh, if victimized girls and women ask for justice it has become a rule to destroy their families, from Unnao, Hathras to Kanpur- wherever women were tortured, their families were destroyed. Being a woman has become a crime in this jungle raj where there is no such thing as law left,” Gandhi wrote in a post on X on Thursday.

“After all, what should crores of women of the state do, where should they go?” she asked.

(With PTI inputs)