Lakhimpur Kheri: The Uttar Pradesh Police is mulling over slapping the stringent National Security Act against the six people arrested for the rape and murder of two Dalit sisters in the state's Lakhimpur Kheri.
The sisters, aged 15 and 17, were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field on Wednesday evening.
The National Security Act (NSA) allows the detention of people up to one year without any charge.
"We are mulling to impose the NSA on the six accused persons. Apart from this, DNA samples of the six accused persons and the two girls will also be sent for an examination," Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Suman told on Friday.
Suman said none of the accused is minor, dismissing reports of the kin of some of them making the claiming.
Meanwhile, Assistant District Government Counsel Brijesh Pandey said the accused were produced before a POCSO court, which sent them to a 14-day judicial custody.
District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh on Friday told reporters that the monetary relief of Rs 8.25 lakh each has been released in favour of the girls' family.
The remaining compensation amount will be released soon, he said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Thursday evening directed that Rs 25 lakh financial assistance, a pucca house and agriculture land be given to the kin of the dead.
In a tweet in Hindi, the office of the UP Chief Minister said the matter will be effectively pursued in a fast-track court and the culprits will be punished within a month.
Nighasan's BJP legislator Shashank Verma along with BJP's district president Sunil Singh visited the grief-stricken family, telling them that the government would provide all aid and assistance to them.
The village on Friday looked calm and quiet, though the authorities have deployed adequate number of policemen to maintain peace there.
The Congress Friday accused the BJP and RSS of giving communal colour to the alleged rape and murder of two Dalit sisters in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri and demanded that justice delivery in the case be fast-tracked.
The Opposition party also demanded the Narendra Modi government should implement the SC/ST Act with "full force".
Two teenage sisters were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located about a kilometre from their house in Lakhimpur Kheri's Nighasan police station limits Wednesday. Six people were arrested on Thursday in connection with the alleged rape and killing of the two girls.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters here, the party's Scheduled Caste department head Rajesh Lilothia said the alleged rape and murder of the two sisters should not be seen as an isolated incident and alleged that atrocities against Dalits have been rising.
The National Crime Records Bureau data revealed that 70,818 cases of atrocities against Dalits are pending investigation till 2021, he said.