Badaun gang rape & murder case: Under fire, UP govt calls for CBI probe

Rahul Gandhi visits victims' families

The horrific rape and murder of two Dalit minor girls in Badaun has put the Samajwadi Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh on the backfoot, compelling it to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident.

The UP government had initially resisted demands for a CBI probe from several quarters, including that from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former chief minister Mayawati, and instead ordered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victims' family and constituted a fast-track court.

Rejecting platitudes like monetary compensation, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who visited Badaun and met the victim’s families on Saturday  criticised the Akhilesh Yadav government and supported the families’ demand for a CBI inquiry.

The families of the two teenage girls, whose bodies were found hanging from a tree on Wednesday after they had gone missing the previous day, had demanded a CBI probe into the incident, saying they had no faith in the police.  

Till Friday, the Congress had refrained from going all out against the SP government (it used to render outside support to the previous UPA government), but Rahul Gandhi came down heavily on the UP government on Saturday. He was  accompanied by All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Madhusudan Mistry, state PCC chief, Nirmal Khatri, and chairman of AICC scheduled castes department K Raju.

A team of National Commission for Women , who had visited the grieving families, had also blamed the local police.

Two police constables named in the FIR, Sarvesh Yadav and Chhatrapal Yadav, have been terminated from service, while a sub-inspector, Ram Vilas Yadav, has been suspended. Three brothers, Pappu Yadav, Awadhesh Yadav and Urvesh Yadav, named in the FIR have been arrested.