Two Dalit girls, aged 17 and 15, were raped and
murdered in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, police said. The bodies of the two
girls were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field on Wednesday and cops
have arrested six people alleged to be involved in the case. Police sources
told Press Trust of India (PTI) that the post-mortem report confirmed the girls were raped and
strangulation was confirmed as the cause of death.
Here are 7 things you need to know about the case:
1.
The two sisters left their home with two of the
accused, identified as Junaid and Sohail, on Wednesday afternoon, according to
Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Suman. “Junaid and Sohail
confessed to strangulating the girls after raping them,” the SP said.
2.
The victims’ mother lodged a complaint at the Nighasan
Kotwali police station late Wednesday night, alleging her daughters were raped
and murdered. She alleged three motorcycle-borne unidentified youths, along
with her neighbour Chhotu, stormed her hutment and abducted her daughters.
3.
The mother said when she resisted, one of the accused
kicked her and abducted her daughters on a motorcycle towards the fields
outside the village.
4.
The family later found the daughters’ bodies hanging
from a tree in sugarcane fields right outside the village.
5.
A case was registered 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.
6.
Police said the accused, Junaid, Sohail, Hafizur
Rehman, Karimuddin, Arif and Chottu, were arrested in an overnight operation.
Junaid was arrested after an encounter around 8:30 am, according to SP Suman.
Police seized a country-made pistol and ammunition from him.
7.
“The bodies have been handed over to the girls’ family,
who will conduct their last rites,” said Additional Director General of Police
(Law and Order) Prashant Kumar.
