Hathras rape case: UP police accused of being slow to react to complaint
Highlight
- Yogi Adityanath’s government had recommended a CBI investigation last week
- The UP government has come under strong criticism for its handling of the case.
- Many have compared the case to the 2012 gang rape in the national capital.
New Delhi:
The IWC has registered a case against a defendant in connection with the alleged gang rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh last month. The FIR, presented at UP’s Ghaziabad police station, lists rape, attempted murder and gang rape as crimes, according to the ANI news agency.
Registered at the request of the UP government and in a “new notification from the government of India”, the complainant in the case, one of the girl’s brothers, has denounced that on September 14 the accused tried to strangle his sister in a field millet.
The agency received the case last week from the chief minister under pressure, Yogi Adityanath. Yesterday he took over the UP Police case.
The young woman was allegedly gang-raped and assaulted by four “upper caste” men from her village. He died in a Delhi hospital two weeks after injuries sustained in a savage attack that many have compared to the 2012 gang rape in the national capital, a crime that sparked protests across the country and calls for stricter laws to prevent the crimes against women.
The incident sparked an avalanche of criticism directed at the UP government and police.
Much of that criticism has been about the government’s handling of the case, including its treatment of the young woman’s traumatized family, whom they allegedly locked in their home while hastily cremating their daughter at night.
The government has also been accused of covering up the crime attributed to “upper caste” Thakurs.
Hathras: UP Police have been criticized for their investigation of the case
Police, meanwhile, have been accused of a slow response to the complaint.
They have also been criticized for claiming that no rape had occurred; Cops pointed to a forensic report that said no semen had been found, but experts have said there was little chance the semen would be recovered, as samples were taken 11 days after the attack.
According to a reminder of current laws issued by the Interior Ministry yesterday, a medical examination (in cases of sexual assault) must be carried out within 24 hours of receiving the information.
Since then they have filed 19 FIRs but none are against the defendants. Instead, they are against “unknown people” for a conspiracy to smear the state government.
The focus on the safety of women in Uttar Pradesh has been further highlighted by a series of equally brutal crimes reported in the days following the Hathras incident.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Criminal Records last month, India recorded an average of 87 rape cases every day last year, an increase of more than seven percent from 2018 and also an increase from previous year (2017).
With contributions from ANI
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