Tree Of Death
Life in the sleepy village of Katra, an hour’s drive from Badaun, UP, was forever changed when a local family and their neighbours found two minor OBC girls hanged from a mango tree in the fields where they work. Photos of this scene—the 14-year-old and 11-year-old’s lifeless bodies swinging from the tree caused national and international furore, with even the UN condemning the crime and demanding swift justice. The initial autopsy found the minors were gang-raped; but still police tried to rule it a suicide, and CBI closed the case with a note that they believed the distraught fathers had murdered their daughters in an honour killing. Nine years later, the family continues, with their limited means, to seek justice for their daughters. “I do get sad and angry, but mostly I miss her,” says the 14-year-old girl’s mother.
