Budaun double murder: Opposition questions U.P. police encounter, slams government for poor law and order

March 20, 2024 10:25 pm | Updated 10:25 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun district remained tense on Wednesday, a day after a barber slit the throats of two brothers, aged 13 years and six years, before being killed in a police encounter.

Opposition political parties blamed the U.P. government for the poor law and order situation in the State, and also questioned the police encounter.

The double murder led to communal tensions in the area, as a mob gutted shops belonging to the Muslim community. Police detained the father of the accused, Mohd Sajid, for interrogation, amid protests by local residents who demanded the immediate arrest of Javed, the co-accused, who managed to flee from the spot.

An FIR for murder has been lodged against the two accused, on the complaint of the victims’ father, Vinod Kumar. Budaun district magistrate Manoj Kumar Singh also ordered a magisterial probe into the police encounter which left Sajid dead.

Last rites

Chaos prevailed in the Baba Colony area of Budaun as the bodies of the two children were handed over to the family after a post mortem. As they were taken for their last rites, the wailing mother of the pair fell unconscious.

“Sajid told my wife Sangeeta about the pregnancy of his wife and requested ₹5,000 for her delivery. He took my sons to the terrace as soon my wife went inside to get money. He killed my sons within minutes,” the father, Mr. Kumar, alleged. The attacker also injured a third son who had gone to fetch water. The eight-year-old child was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday.

Opposition slams police encounter

Shivpal Yadav, the Samajwadi Party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Badaun, questioned how the case could be solved, given that the police had killed the main accused in an encounter.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav also lashed out at the U.P. government, saying that its failures could not be hidden through an encounter. SP MP Ram Gopal Yadav alleged that the BJP always manufactured violence during the time of elections.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari also attacked the U.P. government’s track record on law and order.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh, however, defended the U.P. government, praising the police’s swift action against the accused and maintaining that anyone who takes law and order into their hands will not be spared in U.P.