*Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault*
After all the social media reports describing the inhumaneness committed against the alleged Hathras gang-rape victim, UP CM Yogi Adityanath has directed the trial of the case in a fast track court and the SIT has been formed.
The victim died on Tuesday in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, two weeks being allegedly gang-raped and tortured in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras area. She underwent numerous fractures and paralysis, her tongue was horrifyingly cut off, along with several assaults.
Long after her death, her family had to suffer a night of interminable horror. A very distressing series of events was caught in overnight pictures, where the victim was allegedly cremated by policemen and her family and relatives were locked-up in their homes.
The visuals showed that the victim’s family was arguing with cops and female relatives were throwing themselves on the ambulance that was carrying the body. The mother was helplessly weeping as cops insisted on taking her daughter straight for cremation, without even allowing them a last look.
Soon after that, many protesters chanted “hang the rapists“, outside the Delhi hospital and the victim’s brothers complained that her body had been taken away by the UP police.
Even the victim’s father and brothers protested but they were allegedly taken away by the UP cops in a black Scorpio with UP plates. The victim’s father said, “We wanted the last rites to be performed according to the Hindu traditions. Despite our protests, the cremation was performed. They took the body forcefully. We couldn’t see our daughter’s face for the last time.”
He also pleaded with the police to be permitted to take her home and cremate her in the morning but they didn’t allow this. After midnight, the victim’s body was taken to her village in Hathras. Reportedly, many appeals were also made to the District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar, to take her body home for last rights, after daybreak. At around 2:30 AM, while most of her family was home, the police cremated the body.
All the four alleged attackers who are reportedly ‘upper caste’ men from the victim’s village are in jail and will also be charged with murder. The UP police are under inspection over alleged breaks throughout the case. It was initially registered as an attempted murder case; later, they added the rape charges, only after the victim’s formal proclamation.
After the death of the victim, IPC section 302 (punishment for murder) has also been invoked, said that police, furthering that under the SC/ST Act, the victim’s family has been given monetary compensation of Rs 10 lakh.
However, in a press conference, IG Piyush Mordiya said that the medical examination of the victim did not confirm rape. He also added that the details have been sent to the forensic science lab in Agra for more examination and the results are expected any time soon confirmed the IG.
About The Shocking Case That Reminds Us Of Nirbhaya
On September 14th 2020, the victim went to the field to gather fodder. Then a group of men attacked her from behind, and she was allegedly dragged by a dupatta around her neck that caused the spinal injuries, to a field where she was allegedly raped.
The station house officer (SHO) of Chandpa police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, under whose jurisdiction the Dalit woman was allegedly gang-raped, has been transferred to the district police lines for his “failure to promptly act”.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted and demanded that the guilty be tried and hanged at the earliest. “The death of Hathras victim is shameful for the entire society, country as well as for all the governments. It is highly sad that so many daughters are being sexually assaulted and we have not been able to protect them.” Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said on Twitter, “A Dalit girl who was a victim of demoniac behaviour in Hathras has passed away at Safdarjung Hospital. For two weeks, she kept struggling between life and death in hospitals.”
The hashtagNirbhaya is trending now on Twitter!