Police personnel deployed outside the victim's village in Hathras on Friday. (Express Photo: Amil Bhatnagar)Hathras case Live News Updates: Two days after he made an unsuccessful attempt to visit Hathras, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday will once again try to visit the family of a Dalit woman who died after being brutally assaulted and allegedly gangraped by four upper caste men. The village in Uttar Pradesh has turned into a virtual fortress with as many as 300 police personnel, 17 police vehicles, and five barricades deployed in the area. “Gandhi will be accompanied by a delegation of Congress MPs this afternoon to “hear their grievances and demand justice for the victim,” the party said.
When he last tried to visit Hathras, Gandhi got into a scuffle with the police and was arrested along with his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
On Friday, a delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs was also stopped from entering the district. Visuals of the incident showed police personnel shoving the MPs, including Derek O’Brien, when they tried to continue their journey on foot.
Denied entry to Hathras, Opposition parties on Friday took to the street in the national capital demanding justice for the victim. Several leaders were among the hundreds that gathered at Jantar Mantar, in the first mass gathering in Delhi after the lockdown.
Under fire for its handling of the murder and hurried cremation of the woman, the Uttar Pradesh government suspended three police officers, including Hathras Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir. A government spokesperson said polygraph and narco tests would be conducted on the accused, the victim’s relatives and police officers involved in the probe.
Members of various organizations during a protest against the Hathras case, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, Friday. (PTI)
The Indian Express's latest editorial on the Hathras case: "The Hathras case is a test for the UP Police, and also for the Yogi Adityanath government that it reports to. All of the government’s determined efforts to project and promote UP as a well governed state will amount to naught if it is unable to send out a simple message — that it is fully committed to upholding the law and bringing to book those who think they can brutalise a woman and get away with it." Click here to read more.
On the directive of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth, Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, and state DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthy are scheduled to visit Hathras today.
The UP Congress today claimed that their party unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was placed under house arrest. "How afraid is this government? We are not going to stop," the party tweeted.
Hitting the streets for the first time since the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed in March, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were prevented Thursday from going to the village of the Hathras Dalit teenager. Their cavalcade was stopped en route, after which they began to walk, only to be arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police. Dramatic visuals of Rahul walking with over a hundred party workers, falling during a scuffle with police personnel, and both him and Priyanka — the Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh — being taken away in a police vehicle were a strong signal, meant for both the ranks of the grand old party and others, who have been urging the Gandhis to take on a more hands-on role. Click here to read more.
Criticising the Uttar Pradesh Police over its manhandling of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, allies NCP and Shiv Sena on Friday took on the Yogi Aadityanath government. In Pune, NCP chief Sharad Pawar told mediapersons, “The UP government is adopting an extreme posture. They have no value for law… They should have allowed Rahul Gandhi to go to Hathras. Rahul and Priyanka (Gandhi Vadra) had gone there while maintaining peace. They wanted to meet the victim’s family. Whatever happened with them was not appropriate.” Read more here.
Members of Dalit rights outfit Bhim Army on Friday dumped garbage outside a house in Jaipur that belongs to the District Magistrate of UP’s Hathras, Praveen Kumar Laxkar. “The incident took place on Friday afternoon when people riding two-wheelers dumped the garbage in front of the house. Laxkar or his family don’t reside there. It is rented out and the family of the tenant stays there,” said Vaishali Nagar police station SHO Anil Kumar Jaimani. He added that the garbage was cleared after the police were informed. “So far, we haven’t received any complaint and no case has been registered,” said Jaimani.
In today's opinion column, Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, Menaka Guruswamy, writes on the Hathras case: "India’s violation is part of a larger story of our country. It is not just India’s spine that was broken — it is the spine of the Indian state and the police that is fractured. It is not just India that was brutalised, it is each and every woman who is raped and silenced that screams out loudly. In the disregard of India’s body even in death, it is our collective dignity and decency that is erased forever. Shame on all of us." Click here to read more.
Members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike being detained by police during a protest in Bengaluru on Friday. (PTI)
Under fire for its handling of the murder and cremation of a 19-year-old Dalit teenager in Hathras, the Uttar Pradesh government Friday suspended three police officers, including Hathras Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir. A government spokesperson said polygraph and narco tests would be conducted on the accused, the victim’s relatives and even police officers involved in the probe. This came a day after the Allahabad High Court took suo motu cognizance of the case and directed senior officials of the state government and police to be present at a hearing on October 12 and explain the sequence of events that led to the cremation and the family’s complaints regarding the manner in which it was done. Click here to read more.
Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Friday questioned the “suspicious” action of police in Hathras, and said the incident had “dented” the image of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the UP government, and the BJP. Bharti told Adityanath she was not aware of any rule under which the Dalit family could be prevented from meeting anyone, and asked him to allow the media and members of other political parties to meet them. “We have recently laid the foundation stone of the Ram temple and claimed to bring Ram Rajya to the country, but the suspicious action of the police has dented your image, that of @UPGovt and @ BJP4India,” Bharti posted on Twitter, tagging the official handles of the BJP and the Uttar Pradesh government.
The restriction on the entry of media personnel in Hathras was lifted on Saturday. Sadar SDM Prem Prakash told news agency ANI: "Since the SIT probe is completed, the restriction on media has been lifted. More than five media persons are not allowed to gather as Section 144 of CrPC is in place." He added: "Only media is allowed right now. When orders come in to allow the delegations, we will let everybone know. All allegations about the phones of the family members being taken away or confining them in their homes are absolutely baseless."
Congress party activists burn an effigy of the central government during a protest over the Hathras case in Jalandhar on Friday. (PTI)
On Friday, a delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs was also stopped from entering the district. Visuals of the incident showed police personnel shoving the MPs, including Derek O’Brien, when they tried to continue their journey on foot. The party claimed the MPs — Derek O’Brien, Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Pratima Mondal and Mamata Thakur — had been stopped by the Uttar Pradesh police 1.5 kilometres away from the victim’s village. They were hoping to “express solidarity with the grieving family and convey their condolences”, the party said. “We are peacefully proceeding to Hathras to meet the family and pay our condolences. We are traveling individually and maintaining all protocols. We are not armed. Why are we stopped? What kind of jungle raj is this that elected MPs are prevented from meeting a grieving family,” asked one of the MPs.
Ahead of his visit to Hathras, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "There is no power in this world that can stop me from meeting this grieving family." Earlier in the day, he had said: "This behaviour of the Uttar Pradesh Police towards the deceased and her family is not acceptable to me. No Indian should accept this."
More than 300 Uttar Pradesh Police personnel, 17 police vehicles, and five barricades. The village of the 19-year-old Dalit woman, who died on September 29 after she was brutally assaulted and allegedly gangraped, has been turned by the state government into a virtual fortress, to ensure no one gets in. The first barricades are up roughly 2.5 km from the village, located in Hathras district, blocking three entrances. It is at one of these that Trinamool Congress MPs Derek O’Brien, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Pratima Mandal and former MP Mamata Thakur ran into a wall of police and district officials on Friday. “We have been asked to ensure that no one enters — media, party leaders, even locals. There is a hospital inside so there is a problem if someone wants to go there. We are letting milk vans go in,” a senior officer told The Indian Express.
Taking to Twitter, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said: "Congress MPs under the leadership of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will go to Hathras today afternoon to meet the grieving family of the 19-year old-daughter of Uttar Pradesh, who was brutally assaulted and murdered."
Two days after he made an unsuccessful attempt to visit Hathras, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday will once again try to visit the family of a Dalit woman who died after being brutally assaulted and allegedly gangraped by four upper caste men. “Gandhi will be accompanied by a delegation of Congress MPs this afternoon to “hear their grievances and demand justice for the victim,” the party said in a statement today.