Hang the culprits, says father of Dalit sisters raped & tied from tree in UP’s Lakhimpur

A day after two minor sisters, aged 15 and 17, from a Scheduled Caste community were reportedly raped and hung from a tree in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, their father sought justice. The "culprits should be hanged", he said on Thursday.

My daughters were kidnapped from their homes, raped, and killed. "I want justice, and the perpetrators should be executed," said the man, while questioning the action of police in the case. He also demanded compensation.

On how the crime unfolded, the victims' mother said that on Wednesday three men from a nearby village took the victims on a bike. Their bodies were discovered two hours later, tied with a scarf from a tree in a sugarcane field a kilometre away.

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Six people have been taken into custody in connection with the case. The men, identified as Junaid, Sohail, Hafizur Rehman, Karimuddin, Arif, and Chottu, were arrested in an overnight operation, Lakhimpur Kheri police superintendent Sanjiv Suman said. He added Junaid and Sohail were in a relationship with the sisters.

Following the incident, villagers blocked a local highway and demanded the strictest action against the accused. Suman and assistant police superintendent Arun Kumar Singh spoke to the protesting family members and residents and assured them of the strict action. A heavy police force was deployed in the area.

A post-mortem of the victims has been done and the report will be submitted to the court and a copy will be handed over to the superintendent of police (SP). "A panel of doctors in the presence of a videographer conducted the post-mortem. The report will be submitted to the court and a copy will be handed over to the SP," said CMO Arunendra Tripathi.

(With agency inputs)