The alleged kidnapping and murder of two sisters in Jalaun district in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh spawned protests from their kin and family members that forced the police to use force on Sunday. With the police action being condemned by the Opposition, the State government swung into action and ordered the transfer of Jalaun SP Rakesh Shankar.
According to an official spokesman, Mr. Shankar has been attached to the office of the Director General of Police at Lucknow. He has been replaced by SP (Railways) Sunil Kumar Saxena, the spokesman added.
The bodies of the two girls — aged between 14 and 20 years — were found, in an advanced stage of decomposition, wrapped in a gunny bag from the Mangal nullah (rivulet) in Atrakala village under the Churkhi police station area on Saturday. The bodies were sent for post mortem examination by the police.
The two sisters were identified by their mother late on Saturday by the clothes found on the bodies, a police spokesman said.
Reported missingIncidentally, a missing persons report was lodged at the Kotwali police station in Orai town (the headquarters of Jalaun district) in the intervening night of September 22 and 23. The First Information Report said the two daughters of Raju Shukla left for an unknown destination after serving food mixed with some intoxicating substance to their family members, the spokesperson said.
It was later alleged that the two girls had eloped with two youths. No headway has been made in the case, with the police reportedly being hesitant in pursuing the investigation till the decomposed bodies of the two sisters were recovered. Police said the hunt was on to nab the two boys who are suspected to have committed the heinous crime.
On Sunday, the family members of the deceased placed their bodies on the road near the district headquarters and staged a “chakka jam”, condemning police inaction and demanding the immediate arrest of the accused. As the protest turned violent, the police used force and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob.
Condemning the police action, the Bharatiya Janata Party State unit spokesperson Manoj Mishra deplored the use of police force.
He said the police should have been focussed on ensuring justice to the family members of the two sisters, but, instead, they had resorted to lathicharge and bursting teargas shells.
