The Uttar Pradesh Police is thinking about slamming the stringent sections of the National Security Act (NSA) against the six accused arrested for the rape and brutal murder of two Dalit sisters in Lakhimpur Kheri. The NSA permits the police to detain the accused for one year without any charge.
“We are mulling imposing the NSA on the six accused persons. Apart from this, DNA samples of the six accused persons and the two girls will also be sent for an examination,” Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Suman was quoted saying.
SP Suman also said that none of the accused was minor and that they needed to be punished under strict laws. Earlier, the accused were produced before a POCSO court, which sent them to 14-day judicial custody. The two Dalit minor girls aged 15 and 17 were brutally raped and murdered by the six accused this week sending shock waves across the state.
The incident happened on Wednesday when two accused named Sohail and Junaid dragged the two Dalit girls to the sugarcane field and brutally raped them. The girls were later murdered and hanged on a tree with their dupattas. Other accused reportedly helped the duo to hang the girls on the tree and rub off the evidence.
Taking cognizance of the crime, UP CM Yogi Adityanath directed financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh and a house and agricultural land to be given to the family members of the girl. He also ordered the state administration to punish all the accused within a month. Reports mention that BJP’s district president Sunil Singh and Nighasan’s BJP legislator Shashank Verma visited the girls’ families to express their solidarity.
Also, 11 members of Congress including MLAs Aradhna Mishra Mona, Virendra Chaudhary, former MP Zafar Ali Naqvi, and former MLA Satish Ajmani met the family members of the deceased girls. Meanwhile, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati, and Congress’ Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP government in the state over the incident. BJP leaders however slammed the parties for playing politics over the human tragedy.
The six arrested accused in the case have been identified as Junaid, Sohail, Arif, Hafiz, Karimuddin and Chhotu (Gautam). They have been charged under the relevant sections of IPC and now the investigating police is thinking to invoke National Security Act in the case.
