July 31, 2021, 01:28 PM
A 17-year-old girl was reportedly beaten to death in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh by members of her extended family as they did not approve of her wearing jeans, the BBC reported.
The incident had supposedly happened on July 19, the Hindustan Times reported.
Beaten by her relatives with sticks, body thrown off a bridge
The victim, Nehas Paswan, was allegedly beaten by her paternal grandfather and uncles with sticks after an argument over her clothes at their home in Savreji Kharg village in Deoria district, according to her mother, Shakuntala Devi Paswan.
This resulted in the victim sustaining serious head injuries, which led to her death, The Indian Express highlighted.
They then threw the girl's body off a bridge after telling her mother that they were taking her away for medical aid, according to NDTV.
UP Girl Assaulted With Sticks Allegedly By Family For Wearing Jeans, Dies
— NDTV (@ndtv) July 23, 2021
NDTV’s Alok Pandey reports
Read more: https://t.co/zoyYoIhpAR pic.twitter.com/COtzjEMbAc
Shakuntala Devi was further quoted by the BBC as saying that her in-laws called an autorickshaw, claiming that they were taking her to hospital.
She said: "They wouldn't let me accompany them so I alerted my relatives who went to the district hospital looking for her but couldn't find her."
Her daughter's body was discovered hanging from the bridge the following morning.
The police chief of Deoria, Sripati Mishra, said, "The relatives were then taking her to hospital, but she died on the way. They tried to dump the body, but it got stuck on the river bridge."
Four people arrested, including grandfather
The police have since filed a case of murder and destruction of evidence against 10 people, including Neha's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the auto driver.
A total of four people have been arrested so far, including the girl's grandfather, two uncles and the auto-rickshaw driver, The Independent reported, with an ongoing search for the remaining accused.
However, police have stated that they do not find the story of family members taking offence at the girl's wearing of jeans to be convincing, The Indian Express further reported.
The police said: "The reason for the murder appears to be something else, which the family is trying to hide and investigations are on.”
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