A teenage rape survivor in Uttar Pradesh was pursued and brutally killed by the accused along with his brother.

According to local reports, the rape, and now murder, accused, Pawan Nishad had been harassing the woman, since the alleged rape, to get her to drop all charges.

New Delhi: 

A 19-year-old woman was hacked to death in broad daylight in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi district by two brothers, including the man accused of raping her, police said Tuesday morning. Police said the killers – Ashok and Pawan Nishad – had been released on bail a few days before the brutal murder.

Police said the woman – butchered with an axe on the main road as scared villagers watched helplessly – had accused Pawan Nishad of raping her three years ago, when she was a minor. Pawan (and his associates) had been harassing the woman, since then, to get her to drop the case filed against him

Ashok Nishad, Pawan’s brother, is implicated in a distinct murder case and had been released less than 48 hours before the tragic killing of the young woman, according to the police. During this period, Pawan, who was already out of jail, collaborated with his brother to scheme a plan to confront the woman’s family and coerce them into closing the case, as per the police explanation.

Despite facing resistance from the young woman, the brothers proceeded to attack and brutally murder her as she returned from tending to her family’s cattle in a nearby field, as outlined by the police.

Following the heinous act, Pawan and Ashok Nishad are currently evading law enforcement, according to the police.

Superintendent of Police Brijesh Srivastava stated, “A longstanding dispute within the same community, stemming from an old rivalry and legal contention, led to members of one faction using a sharp weapon to fatally assault the girl. A formal police complaint has been lodged, and the accused have been officially charged.”

This gruesome incident unfolded in the village of Dherha. The police have taken the necessary steps, including sending the woman’s body for a post-mortem examination, and have organized teams to apprehend the accused, Mr. Srivastava emphasized.

The murder has predictably sparked a political controversy in the state governed by the BJP. The opposition Congress’ state office shared a brief video on X (formerly Twitter), displaying the police covering the woman’s body.

“In Kaushambi, two assailants publicly murdered a girl by wielding an axe. One perpetrator had been released on bail just two days prior in connection with a murder case. The other was accused of sexually assaulting the same victim,” the statement from the Congress party highlighted.

The murder has once again focused attention on the UP government’s record on preventing crimes against women. And it comes just two months after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared ‘Yamraj (the Hindu god of death)’ would exact retribution against anyone who harassed or harmed women.

The Chief Minister’s grand remark came after a teen was killed in UP’s Ambedkar Nagar district.

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