The Hathras gang-rape victim was cremated on the wee hours of Wednesday by her father in presence of Police and administration. The family has alleged that the police cremated the body forcefully against their wishes. They wished to wait for morning for cremation. However, since it had already been over 24 hours since her demise, Police said that the body had started decomposing.
A monetary compensation of Rs 10 lakh is being given to the family of the victim. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had a telephonic conversation with PM Modi regarding the incident and said that a special team has been formed to probe into the incident. The team will submit the report in next seven days.
The victim, 19-year-old girl had succumbed to her injuries in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on 29th September, 2020, a day after she was brought from Aligarh. Hours later, social media was rife with reports detailing the brutality committed against the 19-year-old Hathras gang-rape victim. Some claimed the culprits broke her spinal cord, gouged her eyes and cut off her tongue during the brutal rape. However, Police said that the medical reports state that the injuries were inflicted when she was strangulated by the perpetrators. Police said that the initial medical report suggests no sign of rape.
Detailing the incident, the Hathras police said that at around 10.30 am on September 14, an hour after the incident, the victim’s brother reached the police station to lodge a complaint against one Sandeep, who he alleged tried to strangulate her sister when she went to the field with his mother to collect fodder. Based on his written complaint police registered an FIR on September 14 under IPS sections 307 and ST/SC Act. The official confirmed that then, Satyendra, the girl’s brother had just named one accused- Sandeep behind the alleged crime.
थाना चंदपा क्षेत्रान्तर्गत दिनांक 14.09.2020 को घटित घटना के संबंध में जिलाधिकारी हाथरस व पुलिस अधीक्षक हाथरस द्वारा दी गई बाइट @dgpup @Uppolice @adgzoneagra @vikrant_ips @ANINewsUP @News18UP @bstvlive @ANINewsUP pic.twitter.com/7Xmj7c6X3p
— HATHRAS POLICE (@hathraspolice) September 29, 2020
Since the girl was critically injured she was admitted to Aligarh’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, where she started undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, police started investigating the case and on September 19, Sandeep was arrested.
The police furthered that when the victim was admitted to the hospital, she was not in the condition to give her statemenet. The police waited and on September 22, a lady officer was sent ot record the victim’s statement.
Fast track trial
It was then, said the police that the teenager named the other three accused and stated that she was gang-raped. Following the disclosure IPC section 376 D (charges for gang-rape) was included in the FIR, confirmed the Hathras police official.
Based on the details provided by the victim the police arrested the second accused- Luvkush on September 23. The third accused Ravi was arrested on September 25 and the fourth namely Ramu was arrested on September 26. All four accused have been sent to jail. The officer added that the case will be tried by a fast-track court.
The official furthered that on September 28 the victim was shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where she succumbed to the critical injuries on September 29 (Tuesday) morning.
Hathras police deny social media reports of brutality
After the death of the victim, IPC section 302 (punishment for murder) has also been invoked, said that police, furthering that under the SC/ST Act, the victim’s family has been given monetary compensation of Rs 10 lakh.
Dispelling the news which has been doing the rounds on social media, the police said that the girl’s tongue was not cut off by the perpetrators. When she was strangulated her tongue came between her teeth and that’s how it got injured.
In another byte, IG Piyush Mordiya said that during the medical examination of the victim, there were no signs of rape. He furthered that as suggested by the doctors, the details have been sent to the forensic science lab in Agra for further examination. The results of which are expected any time soon confirmed the IG.
The incident
In what traspired on September 14, the victim had gone to the field to collect fodder when a group of men attacked her from behind. The teenager was dragged by a dupatta around her neck, which probably caused the spinal injuries, to a field where she was allegedly raped.
The accused, who was nabbed on Saturday, had tried to strangulate her to death as she resisted them. In the process, she had ended up biting her tongue and suffering a severe cut on it, police had said.
The station house officer (SHO) of Chandpa police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, under whose jurisdiction a 19-year-old Dalit woman was brutally gang-raped nearly a fortnight ago, has been transferred to the district police lines for his “failure to promptly act” on the case.
The body of the victim was brought to the village after the postmortem where she was later cremated.
Note: The report has been updated to reflect latest updates.
