Punishment to shiver souls, trial in fast-track court: UP govt's assurance in Dalit sisters' rape & murder case

State's Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak has said the government will take action in such a way that the souls of the assaulters' coming generations would shiver, said an India Today report.

Two Dalit sisters, 17 and 15, were raped, murdered and hung from a tree in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur district by five men, the police said today.

There are six accused in the case and all of them have been arrested.

All six men allegedly involved in the double rape and  murder have been arrested. They are Suhail, Junaid, Hafizul Rehman, Karimuddin and Arif.

Accused Chotu, who was the neighbour of the girls and allegedly introduced them to these men, has also been arrested. 

Police said five accused were arrested yesterday but Junaid, who was trying to escape, was caught this morning after being hit by a bullet in an encounter.

District police chief Sanjeev Suman told reporters that on Wednesday Suhail and Junaid took the girls to a sugarcane field and raped them. The other accused helped them to get rid of the evidence.

He also said that the girls were acquainted with the accused and left with them on their bikes, dismissing claims of the victims' mother that their daughters had been abducted, NDTV reported.

"The girls were raped in the fields. When they insisted that the men marry them, the men strangled them with their dupattas. Then they called Karimuddin and Arif for help with covering up the crime. They hung the bodies from the tree to make it look like suicide," the officer was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Their bodies were later spotted by the family members hanging from a tree, but there were no visible signs of injuries.

UP Deputy CM has said justice will be delivered and the case will heard in a fast-track court.

"Junaid, Sohail, Hafizul, Karimuddin and Arif were involved in the incident. Girls were strangled to death and then hanged. The government will take such an action that the souls of their coming generations will also shiver," he was quoted as saying by India Today.

When asked about the negligence of the police, "Why this incident happened should also be probed and action would be taken against those found guilty."

The police faced protests by hundreds of angry villagers, who blocked their way when they went to the girls' home to take the bodies for a post-mortem, reported NDTV.

The family had refused to cremate the girls until the government promised compensation and a fast-track trial.