The bodies of two Dalit girls, aged 15 and 18, were found hanging from a tree in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad district on Tuesday morning. The local police say that the girls may have taken their own lives, as there are no immediate indications of foul play, according to reports.

The families aren’t buying the suicide theory and have demanded a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding their deaths. The girls’ parents are poor farmers.

“They are saying that these girls died by suicide and hung themselves, but what about wounds on their bodies? They did not allow us to see the body. We saw the body only this morning. Police is asking us to cremate her as soon as possible. We are not demanding anything, we just want to know the truth,” says father of one of the deceased.

The police said that no suicide note was discovered. “The full picture will only become clear after the postmortem report,” said Alok Priyadarshi, Superintendent of Police, Farrukhabad.

A villager discovered the girls’ bodies and alerted their families and the police. The initial investigation revealed that the girls, who were close friends and lived nearby, were last seen at the house of one of their aunts on Monday evening. Other reports suggest that the girls had gone out to attend a Krishna Janmashtami celebration in their village but did not return home.

When they did not return home, their families initially thought they might have stayed at a local temple where an event was taking place. However, as the night wore on and the girls did not return, their families began searching for them.

The police found a cell phone near the scene and a SIM card from one of the girls’ clothing, both of which are being analysed for further insights.