Dalit Teen Sisters Gang Raped And Hanged

Six people were arrested in connection with the rape and murder of two Dalit teenage sisters in Lakhimpur Kheri district, Uttar Pradesh. The bodies of the sisters were found hanging from a tree yesterday.

The autopsy report of the victims confirmed that the accused raped and strangulated the duo to death before hanging their bodies to the tree.

Following a complaint from the mother of the victims, three accused from a nearby village were held on Wednesday. The accused were identified as Chotu, Junaid, Suhail, Kareemuddin, Hafeez-ur-Rahman and Arif.

The police named Chotu as the main accused in the FIR, which also states that he and two of his friends barged into the victims’ house and forcefully took the sisters away on their motorbikes.

Junaid was taken into custody after an encounter with the police.

Lakhimpur SP Sanjeev Suman said that all the accused, except Chotu, were natives of Lalpur village in the district. The victims’ mother also complained that she was thrashed when she tried to prevent the accused from kidnapping her children.

Contrary to this claim, the SP said that the girls willingly went with accused. Chotu was a neighbor of the girls and he introduced the girls to his friends, who are among the accused.

The accused developed friendship with both the girls and they were lured to the farms and raped by Sohail and Junaid. When the girls insisted that they marry, Sohail, Junaid and Hafizul strangulated the victims to death. Then they sought the help of Kareemuddin and Arif to hang the girls to the tree to eliminate evidence, the police said.

The accused have been booked under IPC Sections 302, 376 and Pocso Act.