The whole nation shocked by the heinous rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl in Hathras, UP. The victim had succumbed to her injuries in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on 29 September 2020.
The woman had endured several fractures, her spinal cord was found broken which resulted in paralysis and her tongue was cut off. The incident has shaken the nation to the backbone, condemning UP for the sharp rise in rape-related crimes in the recent past.
Following the shocking incident, a huge crowd came out on the road to protest against the administration after UP police deliberately cremated the victim’s body without the family’s permission. Reports say that the family was locked in their home when the police were taking away the body.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that the 19-year-old gang-rape victim in Hathras was cremated late at night to avoid large-scale violence.
The government, led by BJP’s Yogi Adityanath, said it had credible inputs about impending “law and order problems,” hence, the last rites of the Dalit woman were performed at that hour.
Earlier, the victim’s family alleged that the cremation of the victim was performed without their permission. They requested police to cremate the body after sunrise, however, the police turned down their request.
As per the state government, the Hathras district administration had received intelligence inputs on the night of September 29 that lakhs of supporters of both communities along with the supporters of some political parties and media will gather at the village on the morning of September 30.
It added that the village could have witnessed violent protests. Mentioning that the district was put on high alert after the pronouncement of the Babri mosque demolition verdict, the UP government revealed that the district administration took the decision to convince the parents of the victim to cremate her with all religious rites at night to avoid “large scale violence”. Moreover, it noted that more than 20 hours had elapsed since her death and post-mortem.
Maintaining that the intention was not bad to expedite the cremation process, the affidavit pointed out that the post-mortem of the body was already done at the Safdurjung Hospital. To buttress its point, the state government annexed translated copies of the intelligence reports. In another charge, it accused sections of the print and electronic media of attempting to stop the cremation by telling the family members to insist on the fulfillment of their demands.
Four persons have been arrested by the police in this case. Meanwhile, an SIT probe has been ordered into the matter.
