Sisters deaths in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri: Scheduled Castes panel assures strict action

National Commission for Scheduled Castes NCSC member on Monday visited Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh where two teenage Dalit sisters were allegedly raped and murdered and their bodies were found hanging from a treeAnju Bala a member of the NCSC said she had met the family members of the deceased and assured the family of all possibilities of government help and aidThe accused have committed a very heinous crime Such people should be given capital punishment said BalaTaking stock of the situation the NCSC member said that the accused will be strictly dealt with Bala later left for the district headquarters where she will be holding a review meeting with the District Magistrate police officials and other administrative officialsThe deceased sisters were found hanging from a tree in the region on September 15Also Read Shashi Tharoor meets Congress president Sonia GandhiThe Uttar Pradesh police arrested six people in connection with the incidentThe NCSC on Thursday took suo motu cognisance of media reports on the deaths of the sisters and issued a notice to authorities seeking an Action Taken Report ATRAdditional Director General ADG Law and Order Prashant Kumar said Junaid Suhail and Hafeezur Rehman were reportedly arrested during an encounter with the local Nighasan police and SWAT team in the Nighasan police station area on Thursday morning Following their interrogation the other accused Karimuddin and Chhotu Gautam were also arrestedAs per police a 315 bore pistol two live cartridges and an empty shell have been recovered from the main accused Junaids son IsraelADG Kumar further said that as soon as the matter came to the notice of the police late in the evening a team immediately rushed to the spotApart from the local police IG Range Laxmi Singh from Lucknow was immediately rushed to the spot Prompt action was taken under the leadership of SP Lakhimpur Sanjeev Sinha and raids were conducted at different places to arrest the culprits he addedThe accused have been booked under Sections 302 376 of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act POCSO ActProtests broke out after the news came to light with the father of the deceased demanding justice for his daughters stating that the culprits should be hanged He also demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job for one of the family membersMy daughters were abducted from the house and then they were raped and murdered I demand justice and the culprits should be hanged said the victims fatherThe postmortem reports confirmed that both girls were raped and strangulatedSuperintendent of Police SP Sanjeev Suman told ANI citing the report that the two minors were murdered after being rapedThe girls were lured to the farms and raped by Sohail and Junaid After the girls wanted the accused to marry them Sohail Hafizul and Junaid strangulated and killed them they then called Karimuddin and Arif and hanged the girls for eliminating any proof SP Sanjeev Suman said As per the police official all the accused persons other than Chotu hailed from Lalpur village in Lakhimpur KheriAll forensic evidence was examined the postmortem of bodies was video graphed and then the bodies were handed over to the family for cremation the police saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever