India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—While National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma has condemned the UP police for conducting the cremation of the Hathras gangrape and murder victim by the police itself at night hours, Delhi Commission for Women(DCW) chief Swati Maliwal has appealed to Chief Justice of India and Judges of the Supreme Court to “take cognizance of the Hathras gangrape case and ensure immediate action on erring officials, strict punishment to rapists and definite mechanisms to ensure no more rapes”.
In a tweet to @UPpolice and @HathrasPolice, Rekha Sharma asked as to why the cremation was done by the police and, that too, at night hours. She also asked why the family of the victim was kept out.
While the family members of the victim told media persons that the cremation of the body was done by police itself, the Hathras police in a tweet said that “the cremation was performed by the family members of the victim as per their customs and rituals under the supervision of the police”. She was cremated around 3 am today.
One of the brothers of the victim also said that the police did not allow the body to be brought to their house for “darshan” of the family members and took it straight to the cremation ground.
The 19-year-old girl was gangraped and murdered allegedly by four upper caste men in a village in Harthras district on September 14. She was first admitted to JN Medical College Hospital in Aligarh after the incident and shifted to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi after her condition deteriorated. In her video statements, the girl named four persons who committed gangrape on her.
In her letter to CJI, DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal said, “The victim was gangraped on September 14 and left to die in the fields with grievous injuries. Despite repeated pleas of the family, the local police failed to register a case of gangrape or even rape and for five days the accused persons roamed around scotfree. It was only on September 22 that the victim’s statement was recorded and the relevant sections of gangrape were added in the case and the other accused persons were identified. Despite her serious condition from day one, the Government of Uttar Pradesh shifted the victim to Delhi only on 28th September where she succumbed to her injuries the next day”.
Meanwhile, UPO government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for investigation of the case and also announced Rs. 10 lakh financial assistance to the family members of the victim. All the four accused have also been arrested.
