Lakhimpur Kheri (UP): Two minor Dalit girls were raped and murdered before being banged from a branch of a tree in the district, the police said on Thursday. The post-mortem report also confirmed that both the girls were violated and strangulated. According to superintendent of police Lakhimpur Kheri Sanjeev Suman, after completing the formalities, the police handed over the bodies to their parents, and they will be cremated under tight security.
In order to avoid any demonstrations and protests, as happened when another Dalit girl was raped and burnt in Hathras a few years ago, the state government which claims to have dealt a severe blow to the criminals, has beefed up security in the entire district. The police said that the two sisters were strangulated after being raped, because they pleaded with the rapists to marry them.
Suman further said that as the culprits were well known to the girls, they took advantage of the situation and violated them, but when they began to pressurise the rapists for marrying them, the criminals got angry and strangled them with their dupattas. They then called two of their friends to hang them from a branch of a tree to make it look like suicide, he said.
Chhotu, the main accused in the case, introduced the girls to three of his friends, but he was not at the scene of the crime. Suman said that one of the culprits, caught in an encounter with the police in the morning, was shot in the leg and identified on Wednesday.
