Budaun gang rapes: Victims' families say they are not safe

Rejecting UP police claim that property could be a motive behind the gang rape and murder of two teenage cousins in Budaun, their family members on Sunday said they have no faith in state police and were not safe in the village while accusing the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case of pressurising them.

Father of one of the victims said why would they demand a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry if they had killed their daughters.

Accusing the police of twisting the case, he said, "we want the matter to be probed by CBI so that reality comes to light."

The family members said that they were not safe in the village and alleged that police and SIT team were pressurising them.

"We want only a CBI inquiry. We have no faith in police and will not record any statement before it. We will give statement only before CBI," they said.

The family members said that if the situation remains the same, they would be forced to leave the village.

Asked about DGP's statement that property may also be a motive behind the gruesome crime, the father said that he and his three brothers live together and they have only three-and-a-half bigha land.

In a new twist to Budaun gang-rape and murder case, DGP Banerjee on Saturday had said rape of one of the two girls, who were found hanging from a tree, was not confirmed by forensic experts and that property could be a motive for their murder.

"Of the two victims, one was a lone child. Her father has three brothers who have limited resources. In case she is not alive, then it can benefit others. It (property) can be one of the motives. I am not saying that this is the motive," Banerjee told reporters in Lucknow.

Image: The veiled mother of one of the two teenage girls, who were raped and hanged from a tree, walks along with policemen at Budaun district

Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters