On Wednesday, two minor sisters from the Dalit community aged 15 and 17 were found hanging from a tree outside a village in Nighasan in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. On Thursday, the UP police arrested six people in this case believed to be involved in the crime, but the sheer brutality of the violence that was perpetrated on these minor girls brings back the horrors of the Hathras gangrape case that had sparked outrage in the country. It brings back horrific memories of the gang rape and murder of two teenage cousins in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun. Why are crimes against women increasing in UP? And why are law enforcers often accused of cover-ups? Prema Sridevi UnBreaks this News for you!
(Produced below are the transcripts of the video explainer from Episode: 90 | UnBreak the News with Prema Sridevi | Title: UP rape horror: Where are the law enforcers?)
On Wednesday, two minor sisters from the Dalit community aged 15 and 17 were found hanging from a tree outside a village in Nighasan in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. On Thursday, the UP police arrested six people believed to be involved in the crime, but the sheer brutality of the violence perpetrated on these minor girls brings back the horrors of the Hathras gangrape case that sparked outrage in the country. It also takes us back to 2014, when two teenage cousins were raped and murdered in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun. Why are crimes against women increasing in UP? And why are law enforcers often accused of cover-ups? Let’s UnBreak this news!
On Wednesday, India witnessed one of the most gruesome and shocking cases of violence against minors. Two minor sisters were found hanging from a tree in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. The girls, aged about 17 and 15 years, belonged to the Dalit community. The family members of the victims have alleged that they were abducted and raped. A local villager spotted the bodies of the sisters hanging from the tree in a sugarcane field and raised the alarm.
According to the UP police, the main accused in the case, Chotu, introduced the minor girls to three other men - Junaid, Suhail and Rehman. They kidnapped both the girls, took them to a sugarcane field and raped them. The police said that the girls wanted to get married to the boys, but then the boys did not consent and decided to kill them instead. They used the dupatta of the minor girls to strangulate them. The men then called two more men - Karimuddin and Arif, who tried to erase evidence from the crime screen and hung the dead bodies of the girls on the tree.
The UP police is accused of dealing with the case insensitively. The SP of Lakhimpur Kheri, Sanjiv Suman, said in a press conference: “Yesterday, they were lured and taken to the field, where they were forced into physical intimacy against their will. Accused Sohail and Junaid… the rest will be clear after the post-mortem. They along with their clothes are being medically examined. As I have told you earlier, this is a primary investigation. We can’t divulge more details at this stage. We have shared all the details that we have found during our preliminary investigations. All six accused are under our custody.”
The brutal Lakhimpur Kheri case also brings to memory the horrific crime in 2020 in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, where upper caste men gang-raped a 19-year-old Dalit girl. The UP police burned the victim’s body without the family’s consent.
In 2014, another gruesome incident took place in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, where the bodies of two cousins were found hanging from a tree. In this case, too, the UP police and later the CBI was accused of botching up the investigations. In November 2014, the CBI said it concluded that the two cousins were not sexually assaulted and murdered but had taken their own lives. In 2015, a POCSO court in Badaun rejected the CBI’s version.
In early 2019, in Lakhimpur Kheri district, two minor girls were found hanging from an electric pole. The girls went missing after they went out of their homes to graze cattle. Even in this case, the Station House Officer was initially found saying that there was no possibility that the girls were sexually assaulted. Police subsequently said that this was a case of honour killing.
Uttar Pradesh, which is the most populous state in India, recorded the highest number of complaints of crimes against women in 2021, as per the National Commission for Women (NCW). According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, women in UP faced the maximum crimes in the country in 2021.
In the last many years, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed many instances of brutal gangrapes and violence against women, including minor girls. But more than the shocking nature of these crimes, the police have drawn flak for the massive cover-ups. The state government is often accused of being a mute spectator to the rising incidents of violence against women.
