A 16-year-old schoolgirl in a locality of Darjeeling district was bludgeoned to death on Monday allegedly by a youth for resisting sexual assault.

Police recovered the body of the minor girl and arrested the 22-year-old accused.

Residents of the girl’s locality resorted to protests. The local BJP leadership demonstrated before the police and raised questions about law and order.

Anit Thapa, the chief executive of GTA and the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, sent a letter to Siliguri Metropolitan Police, seeking exemplary punishment for the accused.

Sources said that the girl was returning home from school on Monday when the youth accosted her. The details of what transpired are not fully known, but he reportedly took her to a deserted place and hit her on the head with a brick when she resisted his sexual advances, leaving her dead on the spot.

Her family searched for her. In the evening, her body was found in the locality.

Abhishek Gupta, the deputy commissioner of police, said: “We have arrested him. Initial investigation suggests that the primary motive of the murder was resistance to prevent sexual assault. As the victim resisted, she was hit by a brick. We have also recovered the brick that has blood stains. It has been sent for forensic analysis.”

The accused will be interrogated for more information.

On Tuesday morning, as family members and neighbours of the girl learned about the youth’s arrest, they demonstrated before the police station concerned.

Later, as the youth was brought to the local court, the protesters reached there too, demanding his exemplary punishment.

“We want justice. He has killed my daughter and we want him sentenced to death,” said the victim’s mother.

Local BJP leaders and supporters demonstrated near the police station on Monday, alleging that law and order had worsened in the state.

“The local law enforcement agencies should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation,” said Raju Bista, the BJP MP of Darjeeling, urging the process of justice be “swift”.

Bista’s political rival in the hills and GTA chief Thapa also wrote to Akhilesh Chaturvedi, the commissioner of Siliguri Metropolitan Police, on this incident.

“I appreciate the police as they have promptly arrested the accused. But simultaneously, I condemn the heinous crime in broad daylight. I have demanded the accused be strictly punished,” said Thapa.

The local court has sent the accused youth in police custody for 10 days.