Six arrested after two minor Dalit sisters found hanging from tree in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri

Two Dalit teenage sisters were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located about a kilometre away from their house in Nighasan police station limits in Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday, police said.

Six persons have been arrested in connection with the crime.

Sisters killed as they wanted accused to marry them: UP Police

The two sisters, who were murdered after being raped, were strangled to death by the accused because they insisted that since they had been violated, the men marry them, police said.

"The men took advantage of the fact that they were friendly with the girls and raped them. As the girls then started saying they would have to marry them, the men got angry and strangled them with their dupattas. They later called two of their friends, who helped them hang the girls so that it looked like a suicide," said Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanjeev Suman.

The main accused Chotu had allegedly introduced the girls to three others but was not at the scene of crime. The three, who carried out the crime, and the two, who helped them in a coverup attempt, are from another village close to the girls, he said.

The SP said that one of the men was caught this morning in an encounter with the police, who shot him in the leg. He had been identified on Wednesday, police said.

All six have been booked for murder and rape, besides under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The SP said that the girls were 'not forcibly abducted'.

He said that the post-mortem examination is being conducted by a panel of three doctors.

"It will be videographed, and some members of the victims' family will be inside as they wanted to be sure. We will do everything that the family wants. That is important, we understand," he said.

The accused have been identified as Chotu, Junaid, Sohail, Arif, Hafiz and Karimuddin.

All of them are being interrogated.

Akhilesh, Priyanka slam govt

As soon as the news broke, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked the Uttar Pradesh government over "increasing" crimes against women in the state and compared the twin deaths with the Hathras gang-rape and murder.

Comparing Wednesday's case to the Hathras incident, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said in a tweet, "Murder of two Dalit sisters after kidnapping them in Nighasan police station area. Their father's allegation on the police is very serious that they carried out 'panchnama' and post-mortem without the family's consent. After farmers in Lakhimpur, the killing of Dalits is now a repetition of the murder of 'Hathras' daughter'."

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took to Twitter to condemn the incident.

"The killings of the two sisters in Lakhimpur is heartbreaking. Family says the girls were abducted in broad daylight. Law and order in the state doesn't improve by giving false advertisements in newspapers and TV everyday. After all, why are heinous crimes against women increasing in Uttar Pradesh? When will the government wake up?"