LAKHIMPUR KHERI: A court in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Monday pronounced punishment for four men convicted of raping & murdering two Dalit sisters, sending two to life imprisonment and two others to six years in jail.
In September last year, the two minor sisters were abducted from their home, and gang-raped and murdered in the agricultural fields in Nighasan area of Lakhimpur Kheri. Their bodies were found hanging from a tree.
While Junaid and Sunil have been handed over life imprisonment, Aarif and Karimuddin will have to serve 6 years each in prison, a fast-track court in the district ruled.
READ MORE: Lakhimpur Horror: 5 Muslims Among 6 Held For Gangrape, Murder Of 2 Minor Dalit Sisters
Junaid and Sunil alias Chhotu Gautam have been found guilty under sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house trespass), 376DA (gang-raping a women under 16), 364 (outraging modesty), 201 (disappearance of evidence of offence) of the IPC along with relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
After hearing witnesses, special judge Rahul Singh found Aarif and Karimuddin guilty of destroying evidence under section 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Speaking to the media, public prosecutor Brijesh Kumar Pandey informed that the court has also imposed a penalty of ₹46,000 each on Junaid and Chhotu and ₹5,000 each on the other two convicts. “The crimes committed by these convicts fall under rare crimes,” he said.
READ MORE: In Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur, Sisters Died Of Strangulation
Punishment for other two accused – Hafizur Rahman (15) and Suhail (17.5) – will be adjudicated later.
The chargesheet was filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police within 14 days of the brutal gang-rape and murder.
Back then, UP police officers had told The New Indian that Chhotu decided to get rid of the girls when they, after being violated, demanded that they marry them.
As per police officers, the elder sister was abducted from her home by Chhotu, Junaid and Suhail on a bike. They later called Kamruddin and Aarif at the farmland to take turns.