A tragic incident has come to light from Uttar Pradesh’s Karhal area where a young Dalit woman’s body was found in a sack near the Kanjara River bridge. The victim’s family claimed that she was raped and then murdered. They also asserted that this murder had a political motive. According to the family, the accused Prashant Yadav had threatened the victim over political disagreement as he wanted the Dalit woman to cast her vote for the Samajwadi Party, instead of the BJP, in the Karhal by-polls.
The father of the victim alleged that three days ago the accused, Prasant Yadav, came to their home and asked her daughter which party she would vote for. In response, she said she would vote for ‘lotus’—the’ BJP’s symbol—as she and her family have a shelter for themselves under the PM Awas Yojana. Yadav then threatened her and asked her to vote for ‘cycle’—the’ Samajwadi Party’s election symbol.
The family told the media that the threats were issued on November 19, and eyewitnesses reported seeing two suspects taking the woman away on a bike that evening. Her body was discovered the following morning, on Wednesday, and the police immediately launched an investigation.
Senior police officer Vinod Kumar confirmed that the 23-year-old woman had gone missing the previous night and was found dead the next morning. “Her dead body was found this morning. Her father filed a case against two people; one was Prashant Yadav and the other was Mohan Katheria. Both have been arrested,” Kumar said.
The woman’s body has been sent for a post-mortem examination.
Karhal in Mainpuri district was one of the key battlefields for the recently held by-polls after the SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav’s victory in Lok Sabha elections created a vacancy for this assembly constituency. In the constituency, Yadavs form a large voter base, while Dalits and Muslims together constitute an important chunk of the electorate.
