`Those who release rapists...`: Rahul Gandhi slams BJP over murder of Dalit girls in Lakhimpur Kheri

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (September 15, 2022) slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the murder of two Dalit girls in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district and said that women's security cannot be expected from those who facilitate the release of rapists, in an apparent reference to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case being set free last month from the Godhra sub-jail under Gujarat government's remission policy.

"The kidnapping and murder of two minor Dalit sisters in Lakhimpur in broad daylight is a very disturbing incident," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

"Women's safety cannot be expected from those facilitating the release of rapists and welcoming them," the former Congress chief added.

Gandhi, who is currently in Kerala for Congress' 150-day long "Bharat Jodo Yatra", stressed on the need for creating a safe environment in the country for women.

Meanwhile, police have arrested six people in connection with the rape and murder of two Dalit teenage sisters in Lakhimpur Kheri's Nighasan. The girls were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located about a kilometer away from their house on Wednesday.

"We have arrested Junaid, Sohail, Hafizur Rehman, Karimuddin, Arif and Chottu in an overnight operation," Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police (SP) told reporters.

Junaid and Sohail were in a relationship with the two sisters, he said.

"As per the preliminary investigation, the two sisters left their home on Wednesday afternoon on the persuasion of Junaid and Sohail. Junaid and Sohail have confessed that they strangulated the girls after raping them," the SP added.