WhatsApp Image 2020 10 03 at 1

Hathras case: Nationwide outrage as cops seal victim’s village, UP govt suspends SP, DSP

by

The nationwide uproar over the alleged mishandling of the Hathras gangrape and murder case by the Uttar Pradesh administration has put the Yogi Adityanath government in a spot.

As the criticism over the hurried cremation of the 19-year-old victim and alleged pressure on the family poured in from all quarters, Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath suspended Hathras superintendent of police (SP) and deputy superintendent of police (DSP), along with three other officers for mishandling the case. CM Adityanath has said that his government is committed to punishing the culprits.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case ordered polygraph tests on everyone involved – from accused to the victim’s kin.

The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly gangraped by four upper-caste men in Boolgarhi village in Hathras on September 14. After battling grievous spinal injuries for a fortnight, the victim passed away at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on September 29. She was cremated by cop at 2.45 am the next day.

Also read | Hathras horror: Do Dalit lives matter? Will there be change on the ground?

The family has since said that it is under pressure from the authorities to not to pursue the case. In an exclusive interview to India Today TV, the victim’s family on Friday said that the administration has been meeting with the families of the four accused and have promised support.

The police have sealed the village and neither media nor politicians are being allowed to meet the family. The attempts to meet the family by Trinamool Congress MPs resulted in a scuffle in which Derek O’Brien was pushed and another party MP Pratima Mondal was allegedly manhandled by a cop. The cops have reportedly taken away phones from the victim’s kin and have told them that they are not to leave the house or meet anyone till the SIT probe is over.

The UP administration’s actions have resulted in a nationwide outrage. A massive protest was staged by civil societies, student unions, political parties and citizens in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Similar protests were oragnised by various parties in Mumbai. Protests were also held in parts of Uttar Pradesh and rest of the country.

Nationwide protests

Every aspect of the Hathras gangrape and murder case has enraged the nation. From the heinous crime to the way the victim was cremated, from police high-handedness while dealing with the victim’s kin to manhandling of senior political leaders, people are on the streets to protest everything.

The country witnessed a series of agitations against the UP Police and Yogi Adityanath government over the alleged mishandling of the Hathras case. The national capital witnessed a massive protest, while smaller but several protests were staged by activists and political parties in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Pondicherry and West Bengal.

Delhi protests against Hathras case

The protests over Hathrase case of biggest in Delhi. A sea of civil society members, students, women and political leaders, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, gathered at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi on Friday in a massive protest to demand justice for the Hathras victim.

Wearing masks and raising slogans against the UP government, they demanded that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath resign, alleging his administration was “shielding” the accused. Most of the protesters said they were outraged over the way the UP police cremated the body of the victim in the dead of the night.

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, actor Swara Bhasker, Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad, AAP legislator Saurabh Bhardwaj, Left leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury also attended the protest.

Addressing protestors, Kejriwal said there should be no politics over the issue and the accused must get the strictest punishment.

“The entire country wants the accused get the strictest punishment. Few people feel attempts are being made to shield the accused. That should not happen… The family needs help and sympathy. The family should not be troubled,” he said.

Bhasker said people from different groups have gathered at Jantar Mantar, which shows how enraged people are. “It is time we start fighting against the rape epidemic.”

Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan said the police have surrounded the village, are not allowing opposition leaders and mediapersons to enter it and have taken away the mobile phones of the family members of the victim.

“What is happening in UP is goondaraj,” he alleged.

“The silence of the central government and the top leadership of the BJP on such a heinous crime and the UP government’s response thereafter speaks volumes about the authoritarian and anti-democratic “chehra”, “chaal”, “charitra” and “chintan” of the ruling party,” Yechury said.

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said the lawlessness in UP is “a caste code in operation, not the Constitution of India”.

Bhim Army’s Azad demanded that a fast-track court be set up to hear the case daily. “The culprits should be punished as soon as possible so that others get scared before committing such crimes. We will go to Hathras and till the time the matter doesn’t come to Delhi, there is no chance of getting justice,” he said.

Also read | Hathras is now Peepli Live, justice byword for vote bank politics

Priyanka Gandhi attends prayer meet at Valmiki temple

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had tried to march to Hathras with her brother Rahul Gandhi after being briefly detained by police in Greater Noida Thursday, attended a separate prayer meeting for the 19-year-old Dalit woman. The prayer meet was organised by the Maharishi Valmiki Temple on Panchkiuan Road in central Delhi.

Priyanka Gandhi and several other senior Congress leaders attended the prayer meet and sang bhajans.

Addressing the gathering, Priyanka Gandhi said every woman needs to raise her voice and question the government to seek justice for the “daughter of Hathras”. She added the Congress party will continue to exert pressure on the Adityanath government till justice is delivered in the case.

Priyanka Gandhi, who has been at the forefront of the attack on the Uttar Pradesh government, slammed the Hathras administration for cremating her after the sunset.

“Our country does not have a tradition where the father, the brother — the family of the victim is not allowed to light the pyre,” she said at the prayer meeting organised at the Prachin Bhagwan Valmiki Mandir on Panchkuian Road in central Delhi.

Protests across UP

Prayer meetings and protests were held across Uttar Pradesh on Friday with political parties and AMU students seeking justice for the Hathras victims.

Senior Congress leaders, including state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, attended one prayer meeting at the Balmiki temple in the Hussainabad area of Lucknow, a party release said.

“The party is committed to work for ‘Hathras ki beti’. What happened to her reminds us of the barbaric age. The government intoxicated with power is showing its strength on the death of innocents. Instead of checking injustice, the government is itself perpetrating it,” Lallu said.

Samajwadi party workers were lathicharged when they were taking out a march in the Hazratganj area of the state capital.

Samajwadi Party workers during a protest against Hathras case in Lucknow. The SP also held protests in Noida, Varanasi and New Delhi. (PTI photo)

When the SP workers insisted on going up to the Gandhi statue, they had heated arguments with police personnel, after which police resorted to a lathicharge.

“Today, by arresting party MLAs and senior leaders going to sit on a ‘maun vrat” and dharna for ‘Hathras ki beti’, the government suppressed the voice of truth on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. This is condemnable,” SP national president Akhliesh Yadav said.

“Stopping a peaceful foot march of SP MLAs and leaders on directives of the chief minister is the murder of democracy,” the Samajwadi Party said in a statement

Also watch | Dalit lives matter: Will Hathras case become a social movement?

AAP workers observed a fast before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the tehsil headquarters.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh’s wife was taken into custody in Allahabad, state party spokesman Vaibhav Maheshwari said in a statement.

Communist parties also staged a dharna at the Gandhi statue in different districts against the Hathras incident.

In Aligarh, AMU students took out a protest march against “rising crime against women and violation of human rights” in Uttar Pradesh.

AMU students also demanded that fast-track courts should be setup in every district and the law should be amended to make rape punishable with death.

Protest against Hathras rape in Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, all three parties in the ruling alliance – Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP – held protests across the state. Shiv Sena workers staged a protest outside Churchgate station in Mumbai and raised slogans against the UP government.

Shivsena MLA Pratap Sarnaik demanded an FIR be filed in Mumbai on the Hathrase case and said that the Mumbai Police should be allowed to investigate the case, “just like it happened in Sushant Singh Rajput case”.

The protests were held in Chembur and other parts of the metropolitan.

Speaking to media in Pune, NCP chief Sharad Pawar lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government for the way it handled the Hathras rape incident’s aftermath saying it showed the government didn’t believe in fundamental rights. He also criticized the BJP government in the state for stopping Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from visiting the rape-and-murder victim’s family.

“Not handing over the body to the kin and cremating it without their consent is something which has never ever taken place in this country,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and his ministerial colleagues observed a nine-hour fast on Friday to condemn the Uttar Pradesh police for its ‘reckless’ behaviour against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, when they were proceeding to meet a rape victim’s family. Party sources said the fast which commenced at 8 am ended at 5 pm.

Village sealed: Media lays siege, cops man boundaries

The nondescript UP village of Boolgarhi in Hathras turned into a fortress on Friday as the police sealed its borders. Nobody was allowed to enter the village, mostly barricaded and otherwise roped off. There was massive police presence inside the village; hundreds of men in khaki guarding the barricades and milling about in the dusty background. Outside, media crews waited like a besieging army seeking a breach.

Additional SP Prakash Kumar said, “Nobody is allowed to go inside in order to prevent an SIT investigation from getting hampered. As soon it is done, the media will be allowed to enter. There is no interest in stopping the media. But political leaders won’t be allowed.”

Amid high security, one of the victim’s cousin brothers somehow managed to give policemen the slip; he made way outside through fields and spoke to mediapersons around 11.30 am on Friday. “Nothing is happening here. Our phones have been taken away. Nobody is allowed to step outside their houses. I have come here hiding all the way. They were not letting us to go. The DM kicked my uncle in the chest and locked him inside a room because he had asked to call the media. He is unconscious,” he said.

Cops manhandle TMC MPs

The boy’s testimony added fuel to the fire. The matters became worse when a delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs was manhandled and roughed up by the police for trying to enter the village. TMC Derek O’Brien was pushed to the ground during the scuffle and another party MP Pratima Mondal alleged that she was manhandled by a cop.

Former MP and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Thak, who was also part of the delegation said, “We were going to meet her family but there were not allowing us. When we insisted, the women police personnel pulled at our blouses and lathi-charged at our MP Pratima Mondal. She fell down. The male police officers touched her. This is shameful.” The TMC has field an FIR at Hathras police station.

Also watch | Hathras horror: What is UP government trying to hide?

Upper caste group holds panchayat in favour of accused

While the victim’s family was reportedly isolated from the outer world, workers affiliated with the Savarn Samaj held a panchayat in Hathras in favour of the four accused who are in police custody.

Calls were raised during the dharna for an unbiased probe into the matter by the special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Uttar Pradesh government. If our children are guilty, then they should be punished, one demonstrator said adding, “The innocent should not be framed and the guilty should not be spared.”

This panchayat was held at Bhagna village, about five km from Boolgarhi village of which the 19-year-old victim was a resident. Almost all of the attendees favoured the four men accused of brutalising the teen which resulted in her death. Those at the panchayat claimed that some political parties are making use of the case for their own benefit.

BJP leaders slam Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is not just facing criticism from the opposition. His own party colleagues have also questioned the state police’s actions and inability to handle the Hathras case. On Friday, veteran BJP leader Uma Bharti raised questions over police’s action in the case, saying it has “dented” UP government and the party’s image.

Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti, who is currently under treatment for Covid-19 at AIIMS-Rishikesh, urged UP CM Yogi Adityanath to allow media and political leaders to meet the family of Hathras victim.

In a series of tweets, Uma Bharti said that the Hathras incident and subsequent actions by the police and administration have tainted UP CM’s image.

“The way the police have isolated the victim’s family has raised several doubts. She [victim] was a Dalit family’s daughter. The police hurriedly cremated her and then cordoned off the family,” Uma Bharti said.

“In my knowledge, there is no rule which says that the family cannot meet anyone while the SIT probe is underway. This even casts doubts on SIT probe,” she said.

The BJP leader said with the recent foundation laying ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the party has promised people Ram Rajya, “but the suspicious action taken by police in the case taints the image of UP government as well as BJP.”

Uma Bharti added that as soon as she will be discharged from the hospital she will visit the victim’s family in Hathras.

umabharti 0

Another party leader, Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti has said that what happened in Hathras was not right, the police should have handed over the victim’s body to her family.

While Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot refused to comment on the incident, Ravi Shankar Prasad targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi for allegedly doing politics in the matter.

Prasad lashed out at Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for displaying political hypocrisy over the Hathras gangrape. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Prasad questioned the brother-sister duo’s silence over similar horrific crimes in Congress-ruled Rajasthan while kicking up a storm over the incident in UP where the saffron party is in power.

UP government suspends Hathras SP, DSP; DM spared

Under extreme pressure from public and parties, the Uttar Pradesh government suspended Hathras superintendent of police (SP), deputy superintendent of police (DSP), station inspector and two other officials for mishandling the Hathras case.

Demands have also been raised for the suspension of the Hathras district magistrate (DM), who was caught on camera issuing a veiled threat to family members of the victim. However, the DM has been spared for now.

In a video that surfaced on Thursday, DM Praveen Laxkar was seen telling the girl’s father, “Half of the media people have left today, the other half will leave by tomorrow. Only we will stand with you. It is up to you whether you want to change your statement or not.”

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier on Friday said his government is committed to women’s’ safety and those who even think of harming their self-respect will face total destruction.

“Extermination of those thinking of harming the honour and self-respect of women in Uttar Pradesh is certain. They will get such a punishment that will serve as an example for the future. Your UP government is committed to women’s safety and empowerment. This is our pledge, our promise,” CM Yogi Adityanath tweeted.

Reacting to the news of Hathras SP and DSP’s suspension, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused CM Yogi Adiyanath of trying to shift the blame. In a tweet, Priyanka Gandi Vadra asked CM to reveal the suspended officials’ phone records and disclose who gave them the orders to torture the victim’s kin.

Narco test on accused, victim’s kin

The UP administration has ordered narco or polygraph tests on everyone involved in the case. As per the order, the SIT will put the accused, the kin of the victim as well as the cops who were earlier investigating the matter through a lie-detector test.

According to sources, the polygraph test has been ordered to sort through contradictory claims and statements made by all sides. The SIT is seeking a scientific, evidence-based probe, a source privy to the matter said.

However, AAP leader Sanjay Singh has questioned the need to conduct a lie-detector test on the victim’s kin as the victim had given a dying testimony. “Isn’t it injustice Yogi ji? The girl left this world after giving a testimony about the horror she suffered, all evidence was erased by cremating her body and now you are saying you will do a polygraph test on her family. Why, do you not believe the girl’s testimony?,” AAP leader Sanjay Singh said on Twitter.





Source link

Leave a comment