Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Saturday termed the recent murder of four members of a Dalit family in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj as shameful and blamed the poor law and order situation under the BJP government for the incident.

The relatives of a Dalit family of which four members were killed and a minor girl was also gang-raped have alleged that a neighbouring upper-caste Hindu family is responsible for the crime.

The horrific incident took place in Gohri village, where the bodies of a 50-year-old man, his 45-year-old wife, 16-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son were found in their house.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the tall Dalit politician Mayawati said, “Very sad and shameful murder of four people of a Dalit family in Prayagraj, UP recently. This incident also shows the poor law and order of the government. It seems that the BJP is also following in the footsteps of the SP government in this matter.”

“A BSP delegation led by Babulal Bhanwra who visited after the incident has said that there is a tremendous terror of miscreants in Prayagraj, due to which this incident has also happened. BSP demands that strict action is taken against the guilty,” she added.

ND TV reported that the relatives of the deceased alleged that police had a role to play in attempting to forge a compromise over a land dispute that had raged since 2019 between the family and its upper-caste Hindu neighbours.

“The deceased family had filed an SC/ST case against some people of the village itself,” news agency ANI quoted Sarvashresth Tripathi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Prayagraj, as saying.