india

Updated: Feb 07, 2019 22:00 IST

The body of an 18-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree in a mango orchard in West Bengal’s Malda district on Thursday.

The girl, a Class 12 student in a local school, used to live around 4 km away in Niyamatpur-Amgachhi village in the Englishbazar area of the district. She went missing four days ago.

The girl’s family alleged that she was raped. Her father lodged a police complaint mentioning rape. Police sent the body to Malda Medical College and Hospital for autopsy.

This is the second such incident in the district in a month. On January 10, tension gripped Habibpur area when the partially mutilated body of a 15-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree inside a mango orchard. Her upper jaw was smashed and there were injuries all over the body. The victim was a high school student. Her parents are migrant labourers working in Delhi.

On Thursday morning, local farmers spotted the body when they were passing through the orchard.

“My daughter left the house on Sunday morning, saying she was going to her private tutor. But she did not return and we could not contact her on her phone,” said the father.

“On Monday, we lodged a missing complaint at Englishbazar police station. I suspect that she was gang raped and subsequently strangled. A lot of people pass through this orchard everyday but nobody saw the body before Thursday morning. She was possibly killed on Wednesday late. I want stern punishment for the accused,” the father alleged.

Inspector in-charge of Englishbazar police station, Purnendu Kundu, said, “The body has been sent for post-mortem examination. No arrest has been made yet,”

In 2016, Bengal recorded 980 rapes and 130 gang-rapes. That year, the state was in second position accounting for 9.6% of overall crimes against women in the country. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 14.5%.