Two Minor Sisters Found Hanging Dead From Same Tree After Asking Their Rapists To Marry Them

Six men were arrested in connection with the alleged rape and murder of two teenage sisters, who’s bodies were found hanging from a tree in the Lakhimpur Kheri district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Sep. 14, police said.

Investigators have revealed that the sisters, aged nearly 14 and 17 years respectively, were strangled to death and their bodies had been set up to look like a suicide after they had insisted their rapists to marry them.

The mother of the girls claimed that her daughters were kidnapped by three bike-borne men on Wednesday afternoon. The girls' family alleged that they were raped and murdered.

However, police believe the girls were not abducted and that they knew the accused men, according to reports.

"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," Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police (SP), Sanjeev Suman said.

"Yesterday, the victims were coaxed and taken to the farm and both were sexually abused. Two accused have confessed to having sexual relations with the girls," the SP said in a press conference on Thursday.

The police have registered a case under sections 302, 323, 452, 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3/4 POCSO Act.

"All the six accused namely Junaid, Suhail, Chhote, Hafizur Rahman, Karimuddin and Chhotu have been arrested while a 315 bore pistol, 2 live cartridges and an empty shell have been recovered from the main accused Junaid’s son Israel," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said.

The autopsy of the bodies was video graphed and the bodies were handed over to the family for cremation.

The family of the deceased were reluctant to perform the last rites but agreed after the state government assured to offer financial help and other aid.

"The heartbreaking incident in Lakhimpur Kheri where two Dalit daughters were abducted and raped in front of their mother and their bodies were hanged from a tree is in discussion everywhere, any type of condemnation for such heinous crime is less. In Uttar Pradesh criminals are moving fearlessly because the priorities of the government are wrong," Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and former Chief Minister Mayawati wrote on Twitter.