Hathras tragedy: Rahul Gandhi tweeted to say “Shameful move of the UP government”
New Delhi:
Rahul Gandhi from Congress attacked the Uttar Pradesh government in a series of tweets about the horrific gangrape and torture of a 20-year-old in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh, who died yesterday after fighting for life for two weeks. Amid fresh outrage this morning over the cremation of his body at 2am by the police while his family was locked up, Gandhi tweeted that it was a “shameful move by the UP government to crack down on the Dalits and show them its ‘place’ society “.
The caste angle in the case has been highlighted time and again, first with a protest outside the Delhi hospital where she was admitted by Chandrashekar Azad’s Bhim army. Shock and outrage also found a voice on social media, with many tweeting that the woman and her family have been “brutalized by the entire system.” Others drew parallels to the horrific gangrape and torture of the 23-year-old medical student in Delhi nicknamed Nirbhaya.
“This is all a shameful move by the UP government to crack down on the Dalits and show them their ‘place’ in society. Our fight is against this hateful thinking,” Rahul Gandhi said in a Hindi tweet.
An earlier tweet from him said: “A daughter from India is raped, the facts are suppressed and, in the end, her family’s right to a funeral is also taken away. It is abusive and unfair.”
In a series of tweets, Rahul Gandhi’s sister and general secretary of Congress, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, demanded that the chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, step down.
In a series of tweets, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she was on the phone with the woman’s father when she learned of her death.
“He had just told me that all he wanted was justice for his son,” he tweeted, adding that the man was robbed of the opportunity to take his daughter home one last time and perform her last rites.
“Instead of protecting the victim and her family, her government became complicit in depriving her of all human rights, even in death. She has no moral right to continue as Chief Minister,” he tweeted.
The UP Police had driven directly to the cremation ground, rejecting all calls from the family to hand over the girl’s body. Heartbreaking footage showed the family throwing themselves before the ambulance and prostrating themselves on the ground. The body was cremated in the middle of the night, and the police kept the family and other relatives locked inside their home.
The woman was assaulted on September 19 while on her way to cut grass in the fields for fodder. Doctors said she had suffered multiple fractures and injuries to her spine had left her paralyzed.
Her attackers had dragged her away by wrapping her dupatta around her throat. In the half-strangled state, she had bitten her tongue, leaving deep cuts.
Amid outrage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for “the strictest action against the accused.” A three-member panel was established to investigate the crime, said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. A report is expected in a week.
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