Uttar Pradesh: 2 Dalit sisters raped before murdered, post-mortem reveals

A day after two minor Dalit sisters were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district, police today said that they were allegedly raped and strangled before being hanged.

They added, that six accused were arrested and charged under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO). One of the accused was caught following an encounter, they added.

The police identified the six accused as Chotu, Junaid, Suhail, Hafizul Rehman, Karimuddin and Arif.

Meanwhile, we have reactions from Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on the matter.

It may be mentioned here that the bodies of the two minors aged around 15 and 17 years, belonging to the scheduled caste community were found hanging from a tree under the Nighasan police station limits of Lakhimpur Kheri district last evening.

Local villagers and the girl’s family accused three men of rape and murder and staged a demonstration at the Nighasan crossing, a few kilometres from the village.

Lucknow range inspector general of police Laxmi Singh and Lakhimpur Kheri superintendent of police Sanjiv Suman rushed to the protest site and assured the villagers that strict action will be taken against the accused and urged the villagers to call off their road-block and cooperate with the post-mortem examination.

Locals said the bodies of the two girls were found hanging from a tree at Tamolia-purwa village in a sugarcane field with a scarf.

The mother of the girls alleged that three youngsters from the neighbouring village on a bike abducted the two girls from near a hutment while the two sisters were cutting fodder.