Lucknow: Six people have been arrested in the case of Dalit sisters found hanging from a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. The police informed that both of them were raped and killed and hanged. Sohail, Junaid, Hafeesul, Rahman, Karimuddin and Arif were arrested. Chhotu, a neighbor who introduced the girls to them, has also been arrested. Junaid tried to escape and was caught in an encounter. He was shot in the leg.
The police say about the incident as follows: The girls were friends with Suhail and Junaid. Both of them took the girls to the sugarcane fields and tortured them. When the girls asked for marriage, they were strangled and tied to the shawl they were wearing. This was to make it look like suicide. They were killed by Sohail, Junaid and Hafeezul. Later Karimuddin and Arif were called for help to tie them up and destroy the evidence.
The police said that the girls were not abducted but voluntarily went on a bike with the accused. The accused have been charged under IPC Sections 302 and 376 and POCSO Act. Seventeen and fifteen-year-old girls were killed.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav alleged that there was an incident similar to the gang-rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Lakhimpur Kheri. Both alleged that there is no security for women and scheduled castes in Uttar Pradesh.
English Summary: UP Dalit Sisters’ Rape-Murder: 6 Arrested, One Was Caught In Encounter