New Delhi: The father of the Hathras woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped is currently unwell, an official said. The victim’s father reportedly has several ailments including high blood pressure.

Hathras Chief Medical Officer Brijesh Rathore said, “We had sent a team that informed us that he has ailments including high blood pressure.”

“However, he is not willing to go to hospital. I’m going there and will listen to his concerns,” Brijesh Rathore added.

The 19-year-old Dalit woman died at a Delhi hospital a fortnight after she was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men at her village in UP’s Hathras district on September 14.

On Monday, her family members maintained before the Allahabad High Court that she was cremated in the middle of the night without their consent and their lawyer said they wanted the trial shifted out of the state.

Hathras District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxar and Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal told the court that the decision on the cremation was taken by the local administration and police, and there were no instructions or pressure from the state government.

Senior Uttar Pradesh administration and police officials, also summoned by the court, said the late-night cremation was due to law and order considerations. Justices Pankaj Mithal and Rajan Roy fixed November 2 as the next date of hearing.

There was outrage over her hurried cremation at her village with her family claiming that it was against their wishes and they were not even allowed to bring the woman’s body home one last time.

The high court had then summoned top UP administration and police officials as well as the victim’s family to depose before it on the issue.

Her parents and three brothers were brought amid tight security to Lucknow on Monday, over an hour before the hearing was to begin.

The family’s lawyer said the state authorities were asked about the hurried cremation and they cited law and order as the reason.

She claimed that there were only 50-60 relatives and villagers around compared to the 300-400 police personnel deployed there, arguing that they could have controlled any situation.

The lawyer said the district’s borders were also sealed and there was no law and order issue.

(With inputs from PTI)