Badaun killings case: SP seeks apology from Opposition

Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA has ruled out sexual assault on the teenage girls

The ruling Samajwadi Party on Thursday sought an apology from Opposition leaders for raising fingers on the party in the Badaun killings case, saying the forensic report which ruled out sexual assault on the victims has “exposed” their propaganda against the Uttar Pradesh government.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources had on Wednesday said the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA, Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) had ruled out sexual assault on the teenage girls, whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in May.

“Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar should apologise to the Samajwadi Party government for blaming it and raising fingers on it on the rape issue after the CDFD report,” party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury told reporters.

The CBI had said it is crucial information from one of the most reputed government labs which has cleared a lot of doubts about the theory of the cousins being sexually assaulted before being killed and the needle of suspicion is now on the family members.

They said with sexual assault being ruled out, the accused clearing the lie-detection test and inconsistencies in the statements of eye-witness, the suspicion was now on the family members.

The sources said they were not ruling out honour killing angle in the matter but have not concluded anything so far.

The two cousin sisters — aged 14 and 15 years — were found hanging from a tree in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh in the last week of May, an incident which sparked national outrage with the SP-led government in the state coming under fire on the issue of law and order situation.