Teen found dead, mutilated in Gaya; cops suspect honour killing, parents arrested

Patna: Hundreds of people took to the streets after a 16-year-old girl from Gaya in Bihar was found dead – beheaded and mutilated, in a decomposed state, with acid burns on her face and horrible wounds on her chest on Monday.

The girl’s family alleged that she was gang-raped and was later killed, though they have not named any suspect. However, the police claimed that this is a case of honour killing.

Activists and journalists from different cities took to Twitter to seek justice for the minor. People also organised rallies and candle marches in Gaya demanding the arrest of the killers, reports said.

The girl reportedly went missing from her home in Manpur village of Gaya on December 28. However, her parents filed a complaint on January 4. Her decomposed body was found very close to her house on January 6.

A relative of the girl told The Indian Express, “The family first thought it could be a case of elopement. But when the girl did not return after three to four days, a missing report was lodged. The badly decomposed body of the girl was found from a field, barely 700 metres from her house, on January 5. She worked at a weaving unit in the locality. She was possibly kidnapped on her way home.”

Though her family said they filed a police complaint as soon as they realised she was missing, police claimed the complaint was registered four days later.

“It looks to be a case of honour killing. When we first tried to meet the girl’s family, we were not allowed. When the police talked to the family, the girl’s younger sister said the girl had returned on December 31 after she had gone missing on December 28. As the girl was last seen with a friend of the girl’s father, we have arrested him and the girl’s parents,” said Gaya Senior Superintendent of Police Rajiv Mishra.

The police also said that the autopsy report is awaited to determine if the girl was raped or tortured before she was murdered.

The girl was from a poor family in Manpur, belonging to a community of weavers and was a student in a government school near the village. She was also working alongside to support her family financially.

Hundreds strong crowds led candle light marches in Gaya on Tuesday and Wednesday, demanding a fair and speedy investigation into the matter. Activists in the locality claim that schools, factories and weavers shut down their operations on January 9 as a symbol of their protest.