A team of the National Commission for Women, led by Samina Safiq, visited Katra Sahadat Ganj village in Badaun district of Friday to inquire into the rape and murder of two teenaged cousins on May 27 night.
Ms. Safiq said such a shameful incident was a blot on humanity.
“It should not have happened. Worse, some cops were also involved. Do not worry. We will see that the culprits are brought to book,” she told the mothers of the two girls.
Later, talking to newspersons, Ms. Safiq said the NCW team had studied the case in detail and would soon give a report with strict recommendations to the State government.
A team of U.P. Women’s Commission, led by Janki Pal, conducted its inquiries and assured the villagers that justice would be done soon.
Anger and grief were writ large on the faces of nearly a thousand villagers who gathered on Friday morning at the orchard in Katra Sahadat Ganj village, where two girls were killed.
Women were asked to stay away from the orchard for obvious reasons. A brother of one of the accused warned this reporter against walking towards the orchard.
“Don’t go there — it’s ominous,” he said even as his mother wailed in grief.
The villagers blamed the powerful Yadav community for the crime.
A middle-aged man standing nearby said some Yadavs allegedly chopped his seven-year-old son and buried him in the village last year and managed to get the murder charge slapped on another community just to terrorise the population.
Deputy Superintendent of Police M.K. Saxena confirmed that such an incident had been reported and the case was being investigated.
The victims’ house was packed with mourners. Policemen could be seen struggling to record the statement of the grandfather of the two girls.
Family members said he had partially lost his voice after learning about the incident.
An elderly woman, trying to pacify the grieved family, asked the police to stop asking disturbing questions. “The family needs your help, justice and above all rest,” she told a sub-inspector.
