The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday took cognisance of a suspected case of honour killing of an 18-year-old girl and a 19-year-old Dalit man in Uttar Pradesh and asked the police to communicate action taken against the accused to the Commission within seven days.
According to NCW, Chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to the Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh to intervene and to ensure a fair and time-bound investigation in the matter.
"The two brothers of the girl and her cousin have been booked for murder and destruction of evidence by the Police. An FIR has been lodged in the matter," the NCW statement reads.
The Commission has also sought that the accused responsible for committing such a gruesome act of violence must be arrested on priority.
"A copy of the letter has also been sent to Superintendent of Police, Basti. Action taken must be communicated to the Commission within seven days," it added.
According to the Police, a boy and a girl were allegedly killed after they were reportedly found in an objectionable position in Uttar Pradesh's Basti district.
The case was reported at the Rudhauli police station. The girl's family allegedly killed the couple and buried her body while the man's body was thrown into a nearby sugarcane field.
The process of exhuming the girl's body from the grave has begun and the police are preparing to conduct a post-mortem on both bodies, said Assistant Superintendant of Police Deependra Choudhary.
"Police have been deployed in the village in large numbers and the matter is being investigated. The culprits would be caught soon," ASP Choudhary said.
The matter came to light when a farmer identified as Paras Nath Chaudhary found the body of the teenage boy in his sugarcane field.
Following this, the police was informed and Rudhauli police station in-charge Inspector Ramkrishna Mishra reached the incident site and started an investigation.
As per the preliminary investigation, several injury marks were found on the deceased's body. When Ankit's body was found, he was wearing a green shirt with all buttons open and his pant had slipped down to his feet.
The police went to Ankit's house after his body was identified where his father informed that his son used to drive a tractor at one Irshad's house in the village. He had left home at night and did not return. His phone was also switched off, said the family.
"Brother of deceased informed that victim had gone to Irshad and Irfan's house," said ASP Deependra Chaudhary.
The police after reaching Irshad's house found that his sister had also died the night before and had been buried.
"Further investigation revealed that the sister of Irshad and Irfan had died in mysterious circumstances during the night and was buried. The family has alleged honour killing. We have registered a case and investigation is on," added ASP Chaudhary.
( With inputs from ANI )
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