In a brutal incident, the hand, foot and ear of a dalit girl was chopped off with an axe in Fatehpur district after she resisted a rape attempt by three youths.
The incident took place on Saturday evening in Udauli village, when the 17-year-old girl was returning from the fields with another girl.
She was accosted by one Shiv Om and three others while she was on her way back. The youth slapped the girl accompanying the victim who then fled from the scene.
The men then tried to gag the 17-year-old and tore off her clothes in an attempt to gangrape her. The girl however, used all her strength to resist the assault and started screaming which alerted some villagers.
The miscreants realised that they will not succeed in their efforts and ran away but before doing so, they attacked the girl with an axe.
The girl’s palm was chopped off, along with one foot and an ear. She also received deep gashes on her face and has been hospitalised in Kanpur hospital in a critical condition.
According to SP Fatehpur, Ram Bharose, one of the accused, Hari Shankar, has been arrested while the other three are still at large.
According to the police, the incident seems to be a fallout of an altercation between the girl’s family and one of the accused, Hari Shankar, which began during the panchayat elections.