A 13-year-old Dalit girl who was out to defecate was burned to death in a village here under the Haraiya Police Station jurisdiction, an officer said on Saturday.

Police are still to figure out how and why she was set on fire.

Additional Superintendent of Police Yogesh Kumar said the girl had gone to a field near her village Friday evening to defecate.

When she did not return for an hour, her family started searching for her.

Meanwhile, some villagers told them that a nearby field had caught fire. When they reached the field they found the girl there, dead, the ASP said.

Her charred body was sent for post mortem, the officer said, adding, police are probing the matter.

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