India gang rapes: Arrests over hanged girls in Uttar Pradesh

At least three men, including one police officer, have been arrested after two teenage girls were gang raped and hanged from a tree in India, the BBC reported.

Authorities in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh said they were looking for one more suspect and one constable.

The victims' family earlier complained that police had refused to help find the missing girls, aged 14 and 16.

Violence and discrimination against women in India remains deeply entrenched.

But scrutiny of sexual violence has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.

The government tightened laws on sexual violence in India last year after widespread protests in the wake of that attack.

Police said two men had been arrested for the gang rape and murder of the two girls, who were cousins from a low caste.

A constable was also detained for conspiring with the suspects and for dereliction of duty, authorities added.

Earlier on Thursday, officials had confirmed that three policemen had been removed from duty for not registering cases when the girls were reported missing on Tuesday night.