The Uttar Pradesh Police has said that they have cracked the case of the rape and murder of two Dalit girls in the state's Lakhimpur Kheri district by arresting six accused persons.
The victims and the accused belonged to the same village in the Nighasan area of the district.
While the family of the victims has demanded death penalty for the accused, the latter's kin have claimed that they are innocent and have questioned the police investigation in the case. The kin of one of the accused have also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
The bodies of the two minor sisters were found hanging in a sugarcane field, a short distance away from their home.
The mother of the victims claimed that the accused had kidnapped her daughters on motorcycles, raped them, and then killed them.
On the complaint of the victims' family, the local police filed a case on the charge of rape and murder, and nabbed six persons in this regard.
'My Child Was at Home When the Incident Occurred': Father of Accused
The father of one of the accused, who he claimed is a minor, said that while his son was in a relationship with one of the girls, he could not have killed her.
The minor accused is 14 years old, as per his Aadhaar Card, and had been residing in Hyderabad to learn how to make grills. He had come back to his home in Lakhimpur Kheri on 2 September to attend the Biswa Mela in his village, the family said.
While speaking to The Quint, the father of the accused said, "My child was at home when the incident occurred and was preparing to go to Delhi. At 10:30 pm, the police came to our house and started inquiring about him."
He then told the police that his son had left for Delhi, following which the police asked him to call his son.
"When I spoke to my child, he said that he had reached Pilibhit. I told him to get down wherever he was and come back home," he said.
The police then picked the accused up from the Khutar toll plaza and brought him back, his father added.
Later, the family came to know that he had been shot in the leg in an alleged police encounter.
"My child cannot kill anyone. At the age of 14, if he even tried to kill someone, he would tremble. But he did not tremble while speaking to me," his father said.
'At Home When the Incident Occurred'
The kin of another accused, identifying as Sohail, said that he was learning furniture craftsmanship in Hyderabad, and he, too, had come home for the fair and was scheduled to return on 20 September.
According to Sohail's Aadhar card, he is 20 years of age.
His family also claimed that he was at home when the incident occurred, and that the police came to their home and took him away on 14 September at around 10:30 pm.
Meanwhile, the family of another accused in the incident also claimed that he is a minor, and showed his Aadhaar Card to The Quint to prove it. According to the Aadhaar Card, the accused is 17 years old.
On the other hand, the Lakhimpur Kheri Police have alleged that three accused persons "lured" the minor victims, raped them, and then strangled them to death.
Later, with the help of their accomplices, the bodies of the sisters were hanged from a tree, they added.
'The Police Said My Son Would be Sent Back After Questioning': Kin of Another Accused
The father of the fourth accused, Aarif, said that his son was with him from 11 am till 5 pm on the day of the incident.
According to his father, Ahmed Hussain, the two had gone to Palia town on a motorcycle, around 40 kms away from their home, to get medicine and only returned home at around 5 pm.
"At 3:30 am, the police came and took my son away. When we asked why he was being taken, the police said that he would be sent back after questioning," the father told The Quint.
"The police took him and turned him into an accused," he added.
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