Updated: October 6, 2020 2:21:44 pm
Police deployed to Dalit women’s village in Hathras
Calling the alleged rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras “extraordinary and shocking,” the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government of Uttar Pradesh to submit an affidavit on how witnesses in the case were being protected. The matter has been postponed to next week.
Listening to a petition seeking investigation by the IWC o A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a sitting or retired Supreme Court or Supreme Court Justice, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said: “The incident is very extraordinary and shocking. We want it in an affidavit on how witnesses in the Hathras case are protected. We want you (SG) to find out if the victim’s family has chosen a lawyer ”.
Representing the UP government, Attorney General Tushar Mehta said Different narratives were being given to the incident. and the higher court must supervise the investigation.
“There are narratives and narratives but the sad truth is that a girl has lost her life. There should be an investigation and that should be supervised by this court, ”Mehta said.
The main lawyer Indira Jaising requested protection to the witnesses and the transfer of the trial to UP. “We want no attorney to apply in this case,” he said. To this, SG Mehta said that the witnesses were already protected. “You don’t need a statute for witness protection. They will have to be protected, ”Mehta said.
SP and RLD workers are being charged with latex in Hathras
The petition from Satyama Dubey, social activist and defenders of Vishal Thakre and Rudra Pratap Yadav wanted the trial to be moved to Delhi and alleged that the UP government and state authorities “had not taken … actions against the accused. … “.
The Dalit woman who was allegedly assaulted by four upper-caste men on September 14 died last week, prompting widespread national outrage and protests by the opposition. Reports of her hasty cremation without involving the victim’s family allegedly under police pressure have also led the Opposition to question the situation of law and order in UP.
Earlier in the day, in its affidavit, the Uttar Pradesh government requested an investigation into the Hathras case by the IWC under the supervision of the high court, saying that it would ensure that no “vested interest can create a false narrative and false with oblique motives ”.
The Dalit woman who was allegedly attacked by four upper caste men on September 14 passed away last week (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)
In addition to the alleged case of gangrape and assault, the government also requested an IWC investigation into the FIR related to the alleged criminal conspiracy to spread caste conflicts, instigate violence and incidents of vicious propaganda by sectors of the media and political interests.
“Despite diligent investigation by the state, various false narratives began to gain momentum at the urging of some vested interests,” the affidavit reads.
The UP government also highlighted the role of social media, certain sections of the print and electronic media along with some sections of the political parties in making a deliberate and planned attempt to incite communal / caste unrest in the state using the incident. .
“Some sections of social media, electronic print and some sections of political parties deliberately seek to interfere in the process and not allow the truth to be revealed and the guilty to be punished,” says the affidavit.
The government also said that “extraordinary circumstances and a sequence of illegal incidents” forced the District Administration to take the extraordinary step of incinerating the victim at night “in the presence of the relatives who agreed to attend to prevent further violence.”
In the middle of a dispute over UP ADG (Law and Order) of Prashant Kumar comments that the 19-year-old was not raped, the affidavit mentioned that there was a video recording where the mother and daughter “clearly indicated that he was not injured anywhere other than his neck, that the defendant was just Sandeep and nothing else had happened.”
The woman had provided the details of the alleged sexual assault after she regained consciousness at the AMU hospital on September 22, eight days after the assault. After her statement was registered with a magistrate, the police added relevant rape sections to the FIR.
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