UP Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath handed over the Hathras case to the CBI.
New Delhi:
Four men, allegedly linked to the Popular Front of India or PFI, were detained by police in Mathura of Uttar Pradesh last night amid outrage over the alleged gang rape and torture of a 20-year-old woman from Hathras, who died in Delhi last week. . The men were heading to Hathras from Delhi in a car when they were stopped and detained, police said.
Yogi Adityanath’s government blames the PFI for protests in the state against the citizens’ law – Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) – which began last year and wants it to be banned.
According to the police, the four men, Atiq-ur Rehman, Siddique, Masood Ahmed and Alam, were stopped at a toll booth after receiving information that some “suspicious persons were heading to Hathras from Delhi”.
His mobile phones, a laptop and some literature, “which could have an impact on peace and law and order in the state,” were seized, police said in an official statement.
During questioning, the men revealed they had links to the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its partner organization Campus Front of India (CFI), police said.
Last year, the UP government sought a ban on the PFI for its alleged links to state protests against the citizenship law, which was described as “anti-Muslim” by several opposition parties and critics.
Uttar Pradesh police have filed nineteen FIRs on the Hathras incident, all of which face criticism for handling the case. Police have alleged an attempt to disturb the peace in the state and listed sedition, conspiracy and the promotion of religious hatred in the main FIR or First Information Report presented in the incident.
The death of the 20-year-old woman has sparked massive protests across the country; several opposition leaders have demanded the resignation of Yogi Adityanath.
On Sunday, the chief minister, apparently targeting opposition parties that have been protesting the issue, tweeted: “Those who don’t like development want to incite ethnic and communal unrest.”
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