UP: 50-Year-Old Woman Gang-raped, Killed in Badaun; 2 Accused Arrested, One Absconding

In yet another case of violence against women in Uttar Pradesh, a 50-year-old anganwadi worker was gang-raped and brutally murdered allegedly by a priest and two others in Badaun district.

On Sunday evening, the 50-year-old woman had gone to a temple to offer prayers and later, she was found dead under “mysterious circumstances,” the police said on Wednesday. Family members of the woman have accused the temple priest and his aides of raping and murdering her.

Based on the family’s complaint, the police have registered a case against the accused and arrested two of them on Tuesday night. “The priest is still absconding," said Badaun's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sankalp Sharma.

The post-mortem report of the victims has confirmed rape, and there were injuries in the victim's private parts and a fracture in her leg, Sharma said.

The victim’s family has alleged apathy on the part of the police, which they said led to delay in filing the FIR in the case.

Following this, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought immediate intervention of the UP police in the incident. The NCW said in a statement that it was deeply disturbed by the incident and the alleged police apathy, and it would send its own member to probe into the case.

The station house officer (SHO) of Ughaiti police station has been suspended for laxity in the case.

Badaun District Magistrate Prashant Kumar told news agency ANI that a team has been constituted to look into the arrest of the absconding accused person. He also said, "We believe this incident is fit to be presented to the NSA for a probe and we will do that.”

Meanwhile, the Congress has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttar Pradesh government over the incident.

Referring to the brutal Hathras rape incident of last year, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi said on Twitter, "In Hathras the government machinery did not listen to the victims, saved officers and suppressed voices... in Badaun the Station Incharge of the police did not listen to the victim's plea, did not visit the crime scene. There is something wrong in the UP government's intentions on women's security.”

(With inputs from PTI)