Why were the Lakhimpur Kheri sisters murdered? Police narrate tale of rape, betrayal; 6 arrested

The two minor girls found hanging in a field in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri had been raped by two individuals and were killed for asking the accused to marry them, police said on Thursday. Six men --  Chotu, Junaid, Sohail, Hafizul, Karimuddin and Arif -- have been arrested for the crime.

Sanjeev Suman, SP of the city, said the accused were friends with the victims. The girls were raped by Sohail and Junaid, he said, adding they and Hafizul strangled the victims as they asked the accused to marry them.

The officer said the victims were later hanged by Karimuddin and Arif to conceal the crime.

He said all the men hail from Lalpur village except Chotu, who had introduced the girls to the two main accused.

The police said Junaid was arrested after an encounter and sustained a bullet injury to his leg.

They added that no injury marks were found on the bodies of the victims.

The SP, however, said the girls weren't abducted.

All the accused have been booked under the POCSO Act.

The post-mortem of the victims will be video graphed and some members of the victims' family will be allowed inside

The bodies of the two Dalit minor sisters, aged nearly 14 and 17 years respectively, were found allegedly hanging from a tree outside a village in Nighasan area.

Their mother claimed the girls were kidnapped by three bike-borne men at nearly 3 pm from a cane field and that they had been raped and murdered.

The incident has stirred a political storm with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav comparing the case with the Hathras incident.

"Murder of two Dalit sisters after kidnapping them in Nighasan police station area. Their father's allegation to the police is very serious and 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'," he tweeted.

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

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