16-year-old commits suicide after being gang raped

A 16-year-old girl has taken her own life after allegedly being gang-raped as punishment for her mother winning a local election in India.

The teenager was found hanging on Christmas Day after reportedly being kidnapped and sexually assaulted by two relatives of a losing candidate.

She went to police with her mother and other relatives, claiming that she had been snatched while she was asleep at home and attacked in a field on December 23.

But the girl was sent home with only verbal reassurances from officers who reportedly refused to file an official report.

The girl, who has not been named, took her own life the next day, apparently traumatised and humiliated at not being taken seriously. It was only after her death that police arrested two suspects. 

The Socialist Party candidate in Mirzapur, Arvind Sen, told The Times Of India that the girl was gang-raped to avenge the poll defeat, allegedly by relatives of a losing candidate.

Her mother was elected for the local government faction, the block development council, in the Mirzapur district of north-east India.

The alleged incident is the latest in a series of high-profile cases to have shone a spotlight on women's safety in India in recent years. 

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