October 2, 2020 4:05:40 am
The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper caste men in Hathras on September 14 and later died in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the Allahabad High Court learned suo motu of the fatal assault and alleged robbery of a Dalit woman in Hathras, especially her hasty cremation, and ordered senior officials from the state government and the police, including the district, to be present. at the next hearing on October 12.
A bench of two judges said that the relatives of the deceased would also be present that day so that the court could hear their version of the cremation organized by the police in the middle of the night, and wondered if the authorities acted like this because of their financial situation. . state. He also said that he would decide “on the need to monitor the investigation or have it carried out through an independent agency under the law.”
The court of judges Rajan Roy and Jaspreet Singh, who cited extensively a report from The Indian Express that appeared on Thursday, said that while four defendants had been arrested and an SIT had been established to investigate the matter, “However, for the moment, we are concerned about what has happened since then. The events that occurred after the death of the victim on 09/29/2020 prior to his cremation, as alleged, have shocked our conscience, therefore, we are becoming aware of them ”.
The court said that the matter is of “immense importance and public interest” since there are complaints of “arrogance on the part of state authorities that results in the violation of basic human and fundamental rights not only of the deceased victim but also of his relatives ”.
The judges said: “In fact, the deceased victim was treated with extreme brutality by the perpetrators of the crime, and what is alleged to have happened next, if true, amounts to perpetuating the family’s misery and adding salt to their wounds. . “
The court said it would like to examine “whether state authorities have taken advantage of the economic and social situation of the deceased’s family to oppress them and deprive them of their constitutional rights.”
Citing the Express report, the Lucknow Chamber of the High Court that dealt with the matter added: “In this regard, we have taken note of a news item published in Indian Express, Lucknow edition dated 10/01/2020, with the headline ‘ UP Police out in full force to incinerate the Hathras women, away from the family ‘… According to said report,’ From the moment the deceased victim’s body left the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi at 9:30 pm Tuesday until a hasty cremation in a Hathras village 200 kilometers away at 3:30 am on Wednesday, was marked by a lack of respect for protocol and the arrogance of a police force that did not allow his family to perform their last rites.
The court noted that the report quoted the father as saying that the woman’s body was released from the hospital without being informed, and denied the police version that the family had said the time of cremation would not matter. The court also cited other media reports on the matter.
The court ordered officials to ensure that pressure was not exerted on the deceased victim’s next of kin.
The court said the cremation reportedly took place “around 2-230 am.” He said the family of the deceased follows Hindu traditions, “according to which the last rites are not performed after sunset and before sunrise.”
The judges went on to quote Mahatma Gandhi, saying: “This is a time to strengthen our determination to live up to the ideas that ‘Bapu’ represented, but unfortunately, the basic realities are very different from the high values propagated and practiced. by the Father of our Nation ”.
The court said that the suo motu PIL would be heard by an appropriate court and a record would be kept of all news forwarded by it. He said interested media organizations will be asked to produce relevant material and content on the basis of which they have reported on the matter.
Officials convened by the court on October 12 include the Additional Chief Secretary / Chief Secretary (Home), the DGP, the Additional Director General (Law & Order), the Hathras District Magistrate and the Police Superintendent. Officials have been asked to present their version of events with supporting material and an update on the status of the investigation. The Court also requested a report from the District Judge, Hathras.
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