24-Year-Old Dalit Woman & National Kho-Kho Champion Strangled to Death in UP

The woman's body was found by locals with a dupatta tied around her neck and heavy bleeding from her nose.

Image used for representation.

(Photo: Lijumol Joseph/The Quint)

A 24-year-old Dalit woman, who was a former national champion in kho-kho, was brutally murdered in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor on Friday, 10 September.

The woman was strangled to death even as she tried to fight off her assailants.

The body of the woman, who was a resident of Bijnor, was found by locals in her colony with blood running from her nose. One of her teeth was missing too. Her dupatta was used to strangle her. She was in a semi-conscious state and died a few hours later.

Her purse, documents, and tiffin box were found next to her. A police complaint was immediately lodged by her family. However, reports suggest that the family faced resistance from the police while filing the complaint. The family also alleged that the woman may have been raped.

The complaint was finally registered on Friday night, after which the police conducted an investigation of the crime scene. Citing a medical examination, the police also ruled out the possibility of rape.

“The local police have begun their investigation into the case and four teams have been formed. The woman was found by a passer-by and she had injuries on her body. Rape has been ruled out as per medical examination. With regards to motive and other aspects of the crime, more can be determined once the accused are identified and arrested,” said Bijnor SP Dharm Veer Singh, to The Indian Express.

A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed for murder, assault, and molestation against unknown accused, said the police. No arrests have been made yet.

As per the victim’s family, the woman left her house around 11 am on Friday for work. A few hours later, when she did not return, they tried calling her phone but could not reach her. The family was then informed by a local resident that a woman had been found next to some railway tracks, said The Indian Express report.

“We rushed to the spot when we came to know that someone had been found in an injured state. The ground beneath our feet shifted when we realised it’s her. Someone had tightly wound a dupatta around her neck. She could not make it. She had other injuries as well. She is a sportswoman and she must have attempted to fight back. It also appears that there was more than one person involved in it. I believe that she was raped as well,” said the victim's sister to the paper.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)