Two Children Murdered in UP’s Budaun Town, Tensions Running High

In a shocking case of a double homicide, a barber and his brother have allegedly killed two child siblings in Budaun, a town in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The barbaric incident occurred on Tuesday, March 19 in the town’s Baba Colony when Sajid and his brother Javed entered the house of a neighbour. According to an FIR (First Information Report) filed by the bereaved father Vinod Kumar, Sajid asked the former’s wife Sangeeta for Rs. 5,000 to help pay for his pregnant spouse’s delivery.

When the woman went to her room to get the money, Sajid and Javed lured two of the couple’s small sons to the terrace. Here, they allegedly stabbed the children, aged 11 and 6, to death. Sangeeta was horrified to see the killers’ blood-soaked clothes as they descended the stairs. Before leaving the domicile, Sajid said, “I have done my work today”. He and his brother allegedly also attacked and seriously wounded a third child who was returning from fetching water.

Subsequently, a team of police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) chased Sajid into a nearby forest where he opened fire on the law enforces. However, he was soon gunned down in the encounter and succumbed to his wounds. Not surprisingly, the Uttar Pradesh’s political parties have politicised the murders with the opposition’s Samajwadi Party accusing the ruling BJP of “jungle raj”. 

The BJP in response has pointed to the crimes and riots during the SP’s administration. While the politicians swap blame in this tussle and tensions are running high in Buduan, two innocent children’s lives have been mercilessly truncated and their family left bereft. Meanwhile, the motive behind the brutal killings has not yet been uncovered.