Days after issuing a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government on the alleged gangrape and murder of two Dalit sisters in Lakhimpur Kheri, a team of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Monday visited the spot to begin an independent probe into the incident.
Last week, the bodies of the two girls, aged 17 and 15, were found hanging from a tree in the Nighasan police station area of Lakhimpur Kheri district, following which the local police arrested six persons for the rape and murder of the girls, one of whom — Chotu Gautam — is a local from the victims’ Tamoli Purwa village, and five others — Suhail, Hafizul Rehman, Junaid, Karimuddin and Arif — are from the neighbouring Lalpur village.
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On Monday, Commission member Anju Bala, along with other officials, visited the crime spot and the village where the victims lived. Ms. Bala met with the girls’ family and interacted with locals before being briefed by the police and the administration on the investigation of the case.
The NCSC, while issuing notice to the local administration, police and State Government, declared that it would hold an independent investigation into the incident. It had also sought an action-taken report from the police “immediately”, according to Commission chairperson Vijay Sampla.
