Two minor sisters in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh died by suicide on Saturday early morning after allegedly being raped by their four classmates on Friday, said police.

Read here: Minor allegedly raped, murdered by relative in Ghaziabad; suspect arrested: Cops

Earlier on Wednesday, the victims’ father had filed a case in the local police station alleging that the accused had been intimidating his daughters for the last few days, said police.

Pratapgarh superintendent of police (SP) Amit Budaniya said, “We have detained the three accused including a minor in the incident. The allegations of intimidation and molestation were found to be true during our primary investigation. However, the rape allegation is yet to be ascertained.”

According to police, the victims- students of Class 12 in a local school of Pipalkhunt village- used to stay in a rented house, which is owned by the brother of the prime accused in the case.

“The girls met the accused at that house who turned out to be their classmates in the same school. However, their father somehow found the place unsafe for his daughters and vacated the house earlier this month,” said the SP.

Following the incident, the accused called the girls on Wednesday asking to meet them in the school to sort out the matter, said Budaniya.

The SP added: “However, upon their meeting, the accused misbehaved with them, assaulted the victims and later snatched their phones when the victims called their families to report the incident.”

The victims’ father on Wednesday filed a case against the three, based on which police started searching for the accused. “However, all of them were absconding,” he said.

“On Saturday morning, the two sisters died by suicide, following which their father further made the rape allegation against the accused,” the SP said.

The case was filed against four accused under sections 341 (wrongfully restraining any person), 354 (assaulting women), 354- B (outraging woman’s modesty, using criminal force on her), 334 (Voluntarily causing hurt on grave and sudden provocation), and 376 (rape) of the Indian penal code (IPC).

Police also detained the three accused within a few hours after the case was lodged. The victims’ bodies were sent to the local district hospital for postmortem.

“We are interrogating the accused. But no sound evidence for the rape allegation was found so far. The fact would be ascertained once the autopsy report arrived,” said Budaniya.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Rajendra Rathore said, “Atrocities against women and daughters are at their peak under the jungle raj of Congress. The incident of suicide by two schoolgirls in Pipalkhunt of Pratapgarh district is shameful to humanity”

Read here: 23-year-old Chandigarh youth who raped teen jailed for 20 years

“This incident has also put a question mark on the poor law and order system of the state. (Chief minister) Ashok Gehlot have failed as the head of the home department as it is not the first incident in the state,” he said on X (formerly known as Twitter).

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