FILE photo: Police at the site of the murder of two teenage cousins in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh
For two fathers whose teen daughters were raped before being hanged alive in Uttar Pradesh, a lie detector test will be administered today to double-check their version of events.
A local court in Badaun in the central part of India's largest state signed off this morning on the CBI's request for the test. The fathers of the victims, cousins who were aged 14 and 15, did not object.
The test will be conducted in the village where the double-murder was committed on May 27.
The police refused to help, allegedly because the girls were Dalits, and the men identified by the families as their abductors were higher-caste Yadavs.
The ghastly contours of the case elicited international attention. When the girls were found hanging side by side from a mango tree, their families refused to allow policemen to bring down the bodies till the alleged killers were arrested.
Relatives allege that the girls went missing when they left their house at night to relieve themselves in nearby fields. When they didn't return, the police was alerted but they refused to follow up.
The five suspects now in jail include two policemen who are accused of being criminal accessories.
The top cop in Uttar Pradesh, Director General of Police A. L. Banerjee, was quoted as stating recently that the deaths of the teens may have been an honour killing. Medical reports have established that the girls were raped.
At the start of the month, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, attacked for his administration's handling of the case, asked for a federal investigation by the CBI, which then sent forensic experts along with investigators to collect evidence.
The families of the girls say they had no faith in the impartiality of local police, accusing them of being "hand-in-glove" with the killers.