In Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district, a Dalit woman’s dismembered body was discovered, and her husband alleges that she was raped before being murdered, as reported by local news.
The victim’s husband filed a formal complaint against three men, including the owner of the local mill where she had been employed before her demise.
The 40-year-old victim had gone to the mill for mud plastering; her severed head was found near the mill, along with a piece of her blood-stained saree and one hand.
At first, it was assumed that her death was a result of an accident, possibly caused by becoming entangled in the mill belt. However, her daughter said that the mill was closed when she went there.
The daughter said that when she visited the mill, she found it closed, and despite her efforts to open the door upon hearing her mother’s screams, she was unable to do so. She alleged that Raj Kumar Shukla Bauwa, the brother of the mill owner, eventually opened the door after a delay and appeared to be intoxicated. Upon entering the mill, she discovered the presence of Ram Krishna, a sibling of Raj Kumar Shukla.
The daughter questioned the plausibility of her mother becoming entangled in the chakki belt, considering there was a daily power outage between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the village.
Police has taken action in response to this heinous crime. SHO Girva police station, Sandip Tiwari, said, “The police have registered a case of murder and rape against the three individuals named in the FIR. A panel of two doctors has conducted the post-mortem, and the entire process has been video recorded. Police are actively pursuing the arrest of the accused.”
However, a statement made public by one of the accused, Sohan Babu, has added complexity to the case. Sohan Babu claimed that the victim’s husband, Sohan Babu, was their ‘bataidaar,’ or caretaker, of four bighas of land, indicating that an amount of land had been leased and that the Shukla family was to share the profits equally.
Raj Kumar Shukla, another accused in the case, said, “She was called to help me plaster the chakki room with mud, and she left after completing her work.”
