Protests against the Hathras incident continued on Monday with several students’ organisations gathering at Jantar Mantar to demand Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s resignation.
Students’ organisations like the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) were a part of the demonstration where Mr. Yogi’s effigy was burnt.
Anti-caste movements
Kawalpreet Kaur, president of AISA’s Delhi unit said, “We demand the Chief Minister [Yogi Adityanath] to resign. Now he is hinting at an international conspiracy. This only shows that they want to kill any kind of dissent which grows in the country. Apart from this, efforts to criminalise anti-caste movements are also being done. Right now, there is not even a shred of pretence about a fair trial as we are seeing how the victim’s family is being treated. We are going to continue pursuing this issue.”
Activist Kavita Krishnan said that “filing blank FIRs was a sinister move”.
‘Counter narrative’
“The ruling party and the government is trying to run a counter narrative and say that there was no rape and its an honour crime. This is being said even after there is evidence that the victim till the end kept saying that she had been sexually assaulted. It is being seen that every time there is an incident the perpetrators are protected while the victims are blamed, locked up and killed. We are not going to allow these things to be hidden away,” said Ms. Krishnan.
Protesters also demanded action against senior police officers for allegedly intimidating the victim’s family.