We didn’t kill our girls, Badaun families say

KATRA SADATGANJ (Badaun): The families of the two girls who were found murdered in Badaun on May 28 are shocked and outraged that the Uttar Pradesh police chief has claimed it could have been a case of "honour killing". Neither did their rape and murder have anything to do with property dispute as the police said, they asserted.

"The police are dancing to the tunes of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as all the accused are Yadavs. They are out to save those accused in the crime and are twisting the case to save their faces," said the father of one of the girls.

"We want a CBI inquiry so that the truth comes out. The special investigation team is pressuring us. We have not given our statements to SIT, and its senior officials have told us that if we don't talk to the team, they would furnish inputs on our behalf to the CBI," he charged.

With little help coming from the police, the family has decided to move out of the village. "We're not safe in our village. If the CBI doesn't probe the matter, we'll be compelled to settle in another state," a member of the family said.

DGP AL Banerjee had said on Saturday that the case may have been one of "honour killing", or triggered by property dispute. The fathers of the girls were two of three brothers, and all of them lived peacefully, the girls' families said. Each of three brothers owns 3.45 bigha land.

Ever since we reported the crime, we've been living in fear, confined to the four walls of our house. We're unable to go out to take care of our fields, and our crops have dried," the father of one of the girls said.

Some members of the family recalled members of the yadav caste and their own maurya caste, classified among OBCs, lived in amity until four years ago, when the family of Pappu Yadav, who along with his two brothers, is accused in the crime, moved to the village.

"Pappu Yadav and his family, along with the other Yadavs, started terrorizing people of the backward community. Apart from looting us, they abducted daughters of other villagers who would return after spending a day or two with them. This was the first incident in which they killed the girls after raping them," said the father.

"As police always take the side of Yadavs, nobody would complain of the kidnapping of their daughters. Even we would not have raised the matter if our daughters had returned," he said.

Recalling the events that led to the brutal murders, the family members said the two cousins had gone to the fields in the evening to relieve themselves when they were abducted by brothers Pappu, Awdhesh and Sarvesh Yadav.

"One of my relatives was passing through the fields at the time, and he heard the screams of the girls. He saw the brothers had held the girls captive, but fled the spot as the men threatened to shoot him," the father of one of the girls said. He said as soon as the matter was reported to him by his relative, he went to the police station.
 
"The sub-inspector first arrested Pappu on our complaint. However, constable Sarvesh, who is one of the accused, told the inspector that Pappu was innocent. The sub-inspector then released Pappu and told us we would get our daughters back in two hours. At around 3.30am, I hired a jeep to go to Pappu's house along with 15 other men. We were midway there when Sarvesh, who was following us on a bike, informed us that our daughters were hanging from a mango tree," the father of one of the girls said. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/We-didnt-kill-our-girls-Badaun-families-say/articleshow/36260357.cms


>>> Strange twist,

(1) Now the police, according to the media reports, claims  that at least 2 persons accused of this crime have admitted  to raping the girls;

(2) The foreign media was intially gung-ho that this heinous crime was due to the Hindu caste system leading to the rape and murder of "dalit"  girls by "higher" caste men.