After the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested eight 'upper caste' people in connection with the 'brutal murder' of four Dalit family members in Prayagraj, Additional Director General (ADG) Prem Prakash on Monday, 29 November, told news agency ANI that another man, a labourer, was arrested for 'not cooperating in the probe'.
"One arrested for not cooperating in probe. His clothes, blood samples being sent for DNA testing and his accomplices being traced. One of the deceased is a girl whose date of birth is June 1996, so sections of POCSO Act are being removed from the case."ADG Prem Prakash, as per ANI
Taking to Twitter on Sunday, 28 November, Prakash said that the 23-year-old Dalit man, identified as Pawan Saroj, had sent a "I hate you" message to the deceased woman hours before her death. He was also allegedly stalking her.
Addressing the view that the murder was an act of caste-based violence, as asserted by the kin of the deceased, he said, "He is a 'bhatta' labourer, belongs to the community of his co-workers. So Dalit oppression claims have been found wrong so far. If his accomplices are from general or other caste, then these Sections will be there."
Earlier, on Saturday, 26 November, Prayagraj DIG/SSP Sarvashresht Tripathi had said that eight out of eleven named accused persons had been arrested, adding that the police will "probe the case from all possible angles and will arrest all accused", The Indian Express reported.
Prayagraj ADG Prem Prakash confirmed that the woman was raped. According to him, the symmetry of injuries on the woman's body points to the fact that she was raped and killed by the same person. ADG Prakash added that the woman's mother, who is one of the deceased, was not raped.
The Case
Four members of a family, categorised as belonging to a Scheduled Caste, were found dead at their home in Prayagraj on the morning of Thursday, 25 November.
A First Information Report (FIR) on the charges of murder and gang rape, as well as sections under the SC/ST Act and POCSO Act was registered against 11 persons by the Prayagraj police.
Relatives of the family alleged that a girl, who is among the deceased, was raped before the murder and accused a neighbouring 'upper caste' family of the crime. As per reports, the two families had been involved in a property-related tussle.
According to the relatives of the victims on Friday, the family's pleas had gone unheard and the local police provided protection to the feudal neighbours, pushing for a compromise.
After the incident sparked outrage and protests in the region, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met the grieving family, questioning the administration's silence over the matter.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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