Indian officials say hanged girls took their own lives

KATRA SHAHADATGANJ, India, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Indian officials say the two young girls, found hanging from a mango tree in May, were not gang-raped and murdered, but took their own lives. The announcement, which came after a months-long inquiry, angered family members and has been received with skepticism from activists around the world.

"Our probe found that the two girls had committed suicide and weren't murdered," Ranjit Sinha, head of India's Central Bureau of Investigation, said Thursday. "The local police had erroneously conducted their probe along the lines that the sisters were killed."

The two cousins (not sisters), ages 12 and 14, were from an impoverished village in Uttar Pradesh -- members of one of India's lower castes. Their family alleges the girls were raped and killed by a group of higher-caste men after the cousins ventured into neighboring fields to relieve themselves at night.

"CBI has tried to fudge the case and save the accused from the very beginning," the father of one of the girls, Sohan Lal, told BBC Hindi. "I am very angry with their decision. The team did not show any promptness while investigating the case."

An initial autopsy done by local doctors concluded the two girls had injuries "suggestive of rape." But in August -- after three men had been arrested in connection with the girls' deaths -- Indian officials said that after testing the suspects' clothes, as well as vaginal swabs and personal effects of the girls, they had ruled out any instances of sexual assault.

Some of have suggested the girls' deaths were an "honor killing" executed by relatives. But officials denied that that was the case, concluding the girls took their lives "because of family pressure owing to disapproval of their friendship with a villager."