Police have arrested three persons for allegedly killing a 22-year-old Dalit woman whose body was found in a canal in Ayodhya on Saturday, officials said on Monday.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Raj Karan Nayar said the arrested trio -- Hari Ram Kori, Vijay Sahu and Digvijay Singh -- committed the crime under the influence of alcohol before dumping the unclothed body of the woman, who was missing since Thursday, in a desolate canal near her village.
The family members, meanwhile, have alleged rape and murder, claiming the woman's eyes were gouged out, her bones broken, and her body bore deep wounds.
The incident has become a big ahead of the Milkipur bypoll scheduled on February 5, with opposition parties attacking the Yogi Adityanath government over the law and order situation in the region.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has alleged that atrocities are being committed against the 'PDA' community -- an acronym he coined for 'Pichde (backward), Dalit, and Alpsankhyak (minority)' sections of the society.
Mr Yadav also said the entire party, including Faizabad MP from Ayodhya Awadhesh Prasad, was hurt by the incident.
Mr Prasad, who met the grieving family on Sunday, later broke down at a press conference, saying, "I failed to save her." "I will raise the matter before (Prime Minister) Modi in the Lok Sabha. If we don't get justice, I will resign," Prasad said even as his colleagues tried to console him.
Reacting to Mr Prasad's 'outburst', Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the Faizabad MP was engaging in "theatrics" on the issue.
Speaking at a poll rally, Yogi Adityanath also said that some "criminals from the Samajwadi Party" will be found involved in the Ayodhya incident.
Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too have lashed out at the BJP over the alleged killing and demanded strict action against the culprits and the police officers whom they accused of inaction.
In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi alleged that had the administration paid heed to the cries of the woman's family ever since she went missing, perhaps her life could have been saved.
"How many families will have to cry and suffer like this? The anti-Bahujan BJP rule, especially in Uttar Pradesh, is resulting in heinous atrocities, injustice and murders of Dalits," Rahul Gandhi said.
Priyanka Gandhi said the kind of barbarism committed against the Dalit woman would send chills down the spine of any human being.
"Such cruel incidents shame the entire humanity. The girl was missing for three days but the police did nothing. In BJP's 'Jungle Raj', no one is there to listen to the cries of Dalits, tribals, backward and poor. The Uttar Pradesh government has become synonymous with atrocities on Dalits," she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
