New Delhi: Six persons accused were arrested by the Police after two Dalit girls were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on Wednesday, reported news agency ANI. The accused were being interrogated after they were taken into custody by the police. The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code Section 302, 376 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act (POCSO), reported the news agency.
"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.
As per the news agency quoting Suman, the accused were friends with the deceased girls. "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 said.
"All the accused hailed from Lakhimpur Kheri's Lalpur village except Chotu who was a neighbour of the girls and had introduced them to these boys," he added.
"This is a preliminary probe, post-mortem is about to start in 2-3 hours. A panel of three doctors is conducting the post-mortem. Case is against women and against a weaker section of society. We worked with speed and sensitivity," Lakhimpur SP said.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) took suo motu cognizance of the matter and sent a notice to Uttar Pradesh government seeking response on the action taken in connection with the matter.
On Wednesday, two Dalit girl 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, said the police.
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.
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The police said that the bodies of the two girls were sent for post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause of deaths.
Following the incident, villagers held demonstrations at Nighasan cross to protest the killings. Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Suman and Assistant Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar Singh talked to the irate villagers in a bid to console them, while a heavy police forced was deployed in the village to ensure law and order, as per a report by news agency PTI.
Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh slammed the Yogi Adityanath-led government over the incident.
After the news broke out, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav compared the incident with that of Hathras and tweeted: "Murder of two Dalit sisters after kidnapping them in Nighasan police station area. Their father's allegation on the police is very serious that they carried out 'panchnama' and post-mortem without the family's consent. After farmers in Lakhimpur, the killing of Dalits is now a repetition of the murder of 'Hathras' daughter'."
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took to Twitter to condemn the incident.
"The killings of the two sisters in Lakhimpur is heartbreaking. Family says the girls were abducted in broad daylight. Law and order in the state doesn't improve by giving false advertisements in newspapers and TV everyday. After all, why are heinous crimes against women increasing in Uttar Pradesh? When will the government wake up?"