Women's safety cannot be expected from those who release rapists from jail: Rahul on Lakhimpur incident

New Delhi: In a scathing attack on the BJP government in UP, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday condemned the incident of the killing of two Dalit girls in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, stating that women's safety cannot be expected from those who get rapists released from jail and respect them.
"The kidnapping and murder of two minor Dalit sisters in Lakhimpur in broad daylight is a very disturbing incident. Women's safety cannot be expected from those who get the rapists released and respect them," he said in a tweet in Hindi. With the aforesaid remark, the Congress leader could be seen referring to the incident of Bilkis Bano wherein the Gujarat government released the 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, on August 15.
All the 11 life-term convicts in the case were released as per the remission policy prevalent in Gujarat at the time of their conviction in 2008.
In March 2002 during the post-Godhra riots, Bano was allegedly gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. She was five months pregnant when rioters attacked her family in Vadodara.
Rahul Gandhi further emphasised the need to create a safe environment for women in the country.
"We have to create a safe environment in the country for our sisters and girls," he added in the tweet.
Earlier, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the law and order situation in the state after the bodies of two minor sisters, belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, were found hanging from a tree in Lakhimpur Kheri district.
Taking to Twitter, the BSP chief condemned the incident stating that criminals are roaming free in Uttar Pradesh because the priorities of the government are wrong.
Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday expressed her grief over the incident and said that the incident of the murder of two sisters was 'heart wrenching'.
However, Uttar Pradesh's Deputy Chief Ministers Brajesh Pathak and KP Maurya on Thursday assured strict action against the culprits in the rape and murder of two Dalit girls in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri and urged the opposition to 'console the family instead of politicising the matter'.
Lakhimpur Kheri's Superintendent of Police, Sanjeev Suman informed that a total of six persons, identified as Chotu, Junaid, Sohail, Hafizul, Karimuddin and Arif were arrested in the case.
According to the SP, the accused Junaid was nabbed in an encounter where he was shot in the leg and disclosed that the accused were friends with the deceased girls.
"The girls were yesterday lured to a farm and raped by Sohail and Junaid. After the girls wanted the accused to marry them, Sohail, Hafizul, and Junaid strangulated and killed them. They then called Karimuddin and Arif and hanged the girls to eliminate any proof," SP Sanjeev Suman said.
As per Suman, all the accused persons except Chotu hailed from Lalpur village in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Chotu, who was a neighbour of the girls, had introduced the two girls to these boys and he too has been arrested, the SP added.
He further added that this was a preliminary probe and the post-mortem will start in about 2-3 hours.
On Wednesday evening, the bodies of two minor sisters were found hanging from a tree in Lalpur Majra Tamoli Purva village under the Nighasan police station of Lakhimpur Kheri district. (ANI)