Lucknow, Oct 11 (UNI) The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court is set to hear Hathras incident here on Monday, when it will seek clarification from the Uttar Pradesh government over the hurried cremation and other aspects of the case in the presence of the family members of the victim girl.
The HC has already summoned senior UP government officials including DGP, ACS (home), ADG( law and Order) along with DM and suspended SP of Hathras to dispose before the bench. On the other hand, the family members of the victim girl, too, have been asked to be present in the court.
Meanwhile, 5 members of the family of the victim girl which include her father, mother, brothers and sister in-law have started from Hathras by road under heavy police protection and even a magistrate to reach Lucknow by this evening.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday registered an FIR in an alleged gang-rape and murder of the 19-year-old Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras at its Ghaziabad ACB police station.
On October 1, a bench comprising Justice Ranjan Roy and Jaspreet Singh of the Allahabad High Court had fixed October 12 as the date of hearing after taking the suo motu cognizance of the Hathras case.
The court had observed ,"We have also pondered over the henious crime committed against the deceased victim and though an SIT has been constituted by the State Government in the matter, we leave it open for our consideration on future dates, as to the necessity of monitoring the investigation or getting it conducted through an independent agency as per law."
It further said ,"The seat of governance being at Lucknow and the high Police Officials posted in the office of Director General of Police, U.P. at Lucknow having justified the cremation at night, we have taken cognizance of the matter."
In view of the above, we direct the Senior Registrar of this Court at Lucknow to register a suo motu Public Interest Litigation with the title In Re : Right to decent and dignified last rites/cremation” and place it before the appropriate Bench having jurisdiction to hear Public Interest Litigations.
The bench had appointed senior advocates Jaideep Narain Mathur and Abhinav Bhattacharya, who are practicing lawyers of this Court, as Amicus Curie and request them to assist this Court in the matter.
The court also directed the Senior Registrar of this Court at Lucknow to obtain the addresses of The Times of India, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Amar Ujala, India TV, Aaj Tak, NDTV and TV Today and Times Now from the Director, Information, U.P., Lucknow and communicate this order to them with the request to produce relevant material and content, on the basis of which they have reported the matter in the newspapers and the electronic media about the aforesaid incident, in a Compact Disc or Pen Drive, for the assistance of this Court.
The court while asking the senior government officials to appear before them on the next hearing said these officials shall also apprise the Court about the status of the investigation relating to the crime against the deceased victim.
The court also directed that family members of the deceased victim i.e. the father, the mother, brothers and sisters to be present before this Court so that this Court ascertains the facts and their version of the incidents which took place at the time of cremation.
The District and State authorities shall extend all necessary cooperation and facilities, including transportation, fooding, lodging and security, to the family members of the deceased victim for their appearance in the court.
The State Authorities are directed to ensure that no coercion, influence or pressure is exerted upon the family members of the deceased in any manner, by anyone, the judges clearly said.
UNI MB GK 1255