Lakhimpur: Police added kidnapping charges against the accused in the rape and murder of two minor Dalit sisters, who were found hanging in a field in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district on Thursday. Police also sought to extend the judicial custody of the accused, who were produced in court after their arrest.
The ADJ court will hear this application on Tuesday. CO Sanjay Nath Tiwari said they have sought to add section 364 of IPC to the charge sheet for kidnapping and murder to the charge sheet. The court has also been requested to make a custody warrant in the changed sections and also sought permission to interrogate the accused in police custody remand.
Also read: UP Dalit sisters, age 15 and 17, raped, murdered and hanged; 6 arrested
Six men were arrested on Thursday in connection with the alleged rape and murder of the two teenage sisters, who were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field. Police sources said the post-mortem report revealed that the girls were raped and then strangled. Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanjiv Suman told reporters that according to the preliminary probe, the girls had left their home on Wednesday afternoon with two of the accused, Junaid and Sohail.
He said both were in a relationship with the two sisters, who insisted on marriage, after which they were strangled. Police registered a case against the six accused under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 376 (rape) and 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
