In UP's Gonda, chemical poured on three minor Dalit sisters sleeping on roof of home; inquiry on, says police

Three minor Dalit sisters suffered burn injuries when someone allegedly poured a chemical on them while they were asleep on the roof of their home in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda, as per PTI.

The three are receiving treatment at the district hospital and are out of danger, PTI quoted doctors as saying.

As per PTI, the three sisters, Khusbu (17) Komal (7) and Muskaan (5) were asleep on the roof of their home in Paksa village when an unknown assailant poured chemical on the eldest and some of it fell on her younger sisters.

As per NDTV, the incident reportedly occurred around 2 am on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, when the assailant entered the room the girls were sleeping from the terrace.

The father rushed to their room after hearing their cries but the attacker fled, according to the NDTV report. Khusbu suffered 30 percent burn injuries, Komal suffered 20 percent burns, and Muskaan five to seven percent burns, as per the report.

The girls' father, who irons clothes for a living, told NDTV that Khusbu was to be married soon.

As per the NDTV report, both the girls' father and the Superintendent of  Police (SP) Shailesh Kumar Pandey referred to the substance as acid.

However, PTI quoted Pandey as saying that the chemical with which the girls were attacked is yet to be ascertained. "It will be clear after a probe by experts," the SP said when asked whether it was an acid attack.

The SP said that a complaint has been lodged against unidentified persons by the family, but the police suspect that a person living in the vicinity is behind the attack.

"A case has been registered against unknown persons," PTI quoted Pandey as saying.

As per a Hindustan Times, officials said that the girls belong to the Dhobi community and fall under the Scheduled Caste (SC) category.

The sequence of events suggest that the attacker knew the family and was aware of where the girl slept, Hindustan Times  quoted a senior police official at the DGP headquarters in Lucknow as saying.

The official added that the reason behind the crime was not yet known and the eldest girl would probably help in tracing the accused and throw light on the reason behind the attack. Senior police officials along with a dog squad and a forensic team reached the spot to collect evidence.

With inputs from PTI