Samyukta Kisan Morcha demands 'fair investigation' into Unnao case

Officials investigate at the site where bodies of two minor Dalit girls were found in a field and another in critical condition on Wednesday evening, near Baburaha village in Unnao. Credit: PTI Photo

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions, on Friday demanded a "high-level fair investigation" into the death of two minor girls in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao.

The farmers' body said proper medical treatment should be given to the third victim, who is battling for life, and called for "strict punishment to the culprits."

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"Samyukta Kisan Morcha expresses deep condolences to the victim's family after the mysterious death of two of the three Dalit sisters in Unnao of UP. The governance and administration system of Uttar Pradesh is once again under suspicion where there is no safe space for women. We demand proper medical treatment of injured women, a high-level fair investigation into this incident and strict punishment to the culprits," it said in a statement.

Three girls, aged 16, 15 and 14, were found in an agricultural field in Babuhara village under the Asoha police station area of Unnao on Wednesday night.

Villagers had rushed the teenagers, who are related, to a hospital, where two of them were declared brought dead. The third girl, who is on ventilator support at a Kanpur hospital, is being treated for suspected poisoning, the police said on Thursday, adding they have registered a murder case in connection with the deaths.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha also announced it would celebrate "Pagdi Sambhal Day" on February 23 in the memory of Sardar Ajit Singh, the uncle of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and founder of the "Pagdi Sambhal" movement.

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The song "Pagdi Sambhal", written by Banke Dayal, editor of weekly Jhang Sial, had become the anthem for the peasant movement against three agricultural laws by the British government in 1906.

"The reflections of the movement that Chacha Ajit Singh had started at that time can be observed in this farmers' movement as well. It is an appeal to all farmers to participate in this program by placing poster-banner of Chacha Ajit Singh on tractors and other vehicles and by wearing green turban," the statement read.