2 teenage sisters found hanging from tree after suspected gangrape in India

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) – The bodies of two Dalit teenage sisters were found hanging from a tree in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday, suspecting a rape before hanging.

Speaking to the press, district police officer Sanjeev Suman said that six accused have been identified and arrested. One of the suspects was shot in the leg during an encounter, said Suman.

The officer said: “The girls were lured to farms and raped by two accused. While others strangulated them to death after the girls forced the accused to marry them.”

Dalits are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system and are still subjected to untouchability.

Laws exist to protect Dalits but atrocities against the marginalized community have not decreased.

Dalit is a term used for those who were formerly known as “untouchables.”

They are often ostracized, leading to segregation and persecution by those in a higher caste.

According to an earlier police statement, two teenage sisters were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located a few miles from their house in the Lakhimpur Kheri district on Wednesday afternoon.

The family of the girls alleged that they were abducted and killed by three youths from the neighboring village.

Known for violence against women and Dalits, Uttar Pradesh is the country's most populated state with over 200 million people.

Chief of the main opposition Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and state’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for an increase in crimes against women in the state.

"In Yogi government, goons are harassing mothers and sisters every day, very shameful. The government should get the matter investigated, the culprits should get the harshest punishment," Yadav tweeted.