Lakhimpur Kheri: Dalit Sisters Were Raped And Strangulated, Says Post-Mortem Report

Earlier in the day, police arrested six accused who were involved in the crime.

Security personnel outside a mortuary during post-mortem

Source : PTI

New Delhi: The autopsy report of the two Dalit girls, who were found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on Wednesday shows they were raped and strangulation has been confirmed to be the cause of death, news agency PTI reported the police as saying.

UP Lakhimpur Kheri minor girls' rape & murder | SP Lakhimpur Kheri says the post morterm of the two minor girls confirm that they were raped and murdered

The girls' postmortem report states "Death due to asphyxia as a result of ante mortem strangulation."

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Earlier in the day, police arrested six accused who were involved in the crime. "Total six accused involved in crime in different ways have been arrested. Accused identified as Chotu, Junaid, Sohail, Hafizul, Karimuddin and Arif. Accused Junaid has been nabbed in an encounter that ensued where he was shot in his leg," said Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police, Sanjeev Suman.

"Girls were yesterday lured to farms and raped by Sohail and Junaid. After the girls forced the accused to marry them, Sohail, Hafizul and Junaid strangulated and killed them. They then called Karimuddin and Arif and hanged girls to eliminate proof," the SP added.

According to the SP, the post-mortem had been conducted with the consent of the family and in their presence. Videography of the post-mortem examination was also done, police said.

Police further said that a case has been registered against the arrested accused under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrong­ful restraint), 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

On Wednesday, two Dalit girls, both minors, were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located about a kilometre away from their house in Nighasan Police Station limits in Lakhimpur Kheri district, police said. 

The mother of the two girls alleged that they were murdered and accused three youths from the neignouring village under Nighasan police station of abducting and killing them.