A group of men, including at least two police officers, raped two teenage sisters and strung their bodies from a mango tree, Indian officials confirmed.
Four of the alleged culprits have been arrested ? but police are still searching for three others.
The girls, aged 14 and 15, were found hours after they had gone into the fields behind their home in Katra, Uttar Pradesh, to use the toilet.
Hundreds of people from their village sat under the tree as their bodies swung in the wind ? silently protesting against the police?s inaction in the case. Autopsies confirmed they were gang-raped and strangled before being hanged.
The chief of the local police has been suspended. He allegedly ignored complaints from the girls? father that they had gone missing.
A rape occurs every 22 minutes in India, according to official figures. Activists believe many cases go unreported.
Some women also face pressure from police or family to stay quiet if they have been sexually assaulted. Those who do report cases are often stigmatised.
It is believed the hanged girls? family were a part of the Dalit community. Also referred to as ?untouchables?, the group is considered the lowest rung in India?s age-old caste system.
The nation, home to 1.2billion people, tightened its anti-rape laws last year ? making gang rape punishable by death.
The tougher penalties came after the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in New Delhi.
But last month, the head of a prominent party in Uttar Pradesh told an election rally he was opposed to the notion of gang rapists being executed.
?Boys will be boys,? Mulayam Singh Yadav said. ?They make mistakes.?
Next month, a global summit on how to end sexual violence in conflict will take place in London.
The event is going to be co-chaired by the foreign secretary William Hague and Angelina Jolie, the actress and UN envoy.
Code:
http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/30/india-sisters-hanged-in-village-of-katra-after-gang-rape-4744546/
Comment