The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an indictment against the four alleged upper caste men charged in the Hathras case, in which a Dalit girl was allegedly abducted and killed. The Uttar Pradesh police had previously claimed that the victim had not been attacked.
However, the CBI has said that the victim was attacked and killed by the defendant. The special report has been filed under the SC ST Atrocities Act; Section 376 D, which refers to the violation; Section 302, which refers to murder; and Sections 354 and 376 A.
All four defendants have been named on the charge sheet, said attorney Munna Singh Pundhir, who represents them. The CBI report has been filed in a special court of SC-ST.
The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four men in Hathras on September 14. He died on September 29 at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi during treatment.
The victim was cremated in the dead of night near his home on September 30. His family alleged that the local police forced them to hastily perform their last rites. However, local police officers said the cremation was carried out “according to the wishes of the family.”
The agency has investigated the role of defendants Sandeep, Luvkush, Ravi and Ramu who are in judicial custody, authorities said.
They were also subjected to different forensic tests at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar, they said. CBI investigators had also met with doctors at Jawahalal Nehru Hospital and Medical College, where the victim was treated after the alleged gangrape on Sept. 14, they said.
Yogi Adityanath’s government had faced much criticism over the case, which was later transferred to the IWC. The CBI had formed a team to investigate the incident and turned the investigation over to its Ghaziabad unit. The team has already registered statements from relatives of the victim.
(With PTI inputs)
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