A teenager has been found hanging from a tree in a village in northern India, the fourth woman to die in such a way in recent weeks in Uttar Pradesh state.
The family of the 19-year-old say she was raped. A post mortem is under way.
It comes just one day after a woman’s body was found hanging from a tree in a remote village elsewhere in the state.
The gang rape and murder of two girls found in similar circumstances last month sparked outrage. Correspondents say more cases are now being reported.
Such attacks have long taken place in Uttar Pradesh, reports the BBC’s Geeta Pandey in Delhi, but recent outrage over sexual violence has meant that every case is being reported to police and getting media coverage.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with more than 200 million people, is also home to a staggering number of poor and it is the poor and the disadvantaged low-caste women who are most at risk of such crimes, our correspondent adds.
The body of the latest victim was found in a village in the state’s Moradabad area, just three hours’ drive from India’s capital, Delhi.
On Wednesday, a 44-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in the Bahraich area.
Police said she had been threatened by locals for selling liquor in the area and her family allege she was gang raped. Her post mortem proved inconclusive.
But it was the case on 29 May of two teenage girls gang raped and hanged in Badaun district that renewed a countrywide outcry over sexual violence.
Three suspected attackers have been held in that case, along with two policemen accused of dereliction of duty and criminal conspiracy.
India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said protecting women should be a priority.
Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.
The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack.
Source: BBC
