Lucknow: A special Pocso court in Lakhimpur Kheri on Friday found two men guilty of rape and murder of two Dalit sisters — aged 15 and 17 — in a case which dates back to last year. Two aides of the men were also convicted under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC.
Additional district government counsel (ADGC), Brijesh Pandey, told TOI, “The special Pocso judge, Rahul Singh, found Mohd Junaid and Sunil Gautam guilty under IPC sections 376-D (gang rape), 302 (murder), 363 (abduction), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house trespass with intent to hurt) and 34 (acts by many persons in furtherance of common intentions). Their aides — Karimuddin and Mohd Arif — were convicted for ‘disappearance of evidence’. Two minors, who played a major part in the crime, are being tried in a different court.”
ADGC Pandey added: “We produced before the court 24 pieces of documentary evidence along with 40 other substantial pieces of evidence of the crime. Statements of 15 witnesses were recorded to ensure a speedy trial. Criminal charges were further proven with scientific support such as DNA report.”
On September 14, 2022, the sisters were kidnapped from their house by Junaid and two boys — aged 16 and 17 — with the help of Gautam, who belongs to the same village where the victims lived. The four accused dragged the girls to a secluded sugarcane field, sexually assaulted them and then strangled them to death.
The accused then called their friends, Karimuddin and Arif, to assist them in dumping the bodies. They decided to use the victims’ ‘dupatta’ to hang the bodies from an Acacia tree, to make it look like a case of suicide.
It took 24 hours for local police to crack the case. They found enough evidence to conclude that the victims were gang- raped and killed. Five of the accused, including two minors, were subsequently arrested while Junaid was caught following a police encounter. He was first shot in the leg and then nabbed, and sent to jail.
The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment in the case on August 14.
