Dalit woman’s murder: Yogi hints at role of SP men; Faizabad MP cries

Lucknow/Ayodhya: The murder and alleged rape of a 22-year-old Dalit woman set the political temperature soaring on Sunday ahead of byelection in Milkipur assembly seat in Ayodhya.
While the police did not confirm rape, they said that forensic teams had collected samples for swab test to determine sexual assault. Two people have been detained for questioning.
As soon as the news of the murder spread, Samajwadi Party MP from Faizabad Awadhesh Prasad met the grieving family. Prasad broke down in front of journalists and said that he failed to save the woman.
“Let me go to Delhi, to Lok Sabha. I will raise this matter before (PM) Modi. If we don’t get justice, I will resign. What will history say? How did this happen to the girl,” he said.
Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while addressing a public rally in Milkipur, said: “Remember, the incident that happened with the Dalit daughter in Ayodhya. When the investigation goes to the bottom, the involvement of some or the other beast of the Samajwadi Party will surely be known.”
Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi lashed out at the BJP and demanded strict action against the culprits and the police officers concerned for inaction.
In a post in Hindi on X, Rahul Gandhi said, “The inhumanity and brutal murder of a Dalit girl in Ayodhya is heartbreaking and shameful. If the administration had paid heed to the cry for help of the girl’s family that had been echoing for three days, perhaps her life could have been saved.”
“Another daughter’s life has ended due to this heinous crime. For how long and how many families will have to cry and suffer like this? The anti-Bahujan BJP rule, especially in Uttar Pradesh, is resulting in rising heinous atrocities, injustices and murders of Dalits,” Gandhi said.
Priyanka said the kind of barbarism that was done to a Dalit girl would send chills down the spine of any human being.
“Such cruel incidents shame the entire humanity. The girl was missing for three days but the police did nothing. In BJP’s ‘jungle raj, no one is there to listen to the cries of Dalits, tribals, backward and poor. The UP govt has become synonymous with atrocities on Dalits,” she said.
The woman had gone missing on Thursday night after she left home for some work around 10pm. Her family searched for her throughout the night but could not locate her.
A missing person report was filed at the Ayodhya police station on Friday. The following morning, her brother-in-law discovered her unclad body in a canal, approximately 500 metres from the village.
Police said that a post-mortem examination confirmed that the woman died due to shock and hemorrhage. Contrary to initial claims that the body had been mutilated and bore multiple injuries, police said no fractures were detected.
SSP, Ayodhya, Raj Karan Nayyar said, “Rape has not been established yet. Forensic teams have collected samples for a swab test to determine sexual assault. The case has now been converted into that of murder. We used surveillance, CCTV footage and inputs from informers to detain two suspects. The culprits will be arrested soon,” he said.
Courtesy : TOI
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