“Don’t destroy your credibility,” the District Magistrate is heard saying in the video
The woman’s family, who died days after being gang-raped and tortured in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, have denounced “threats and pressure” from a senior district official who visited them today. A video of the Hathras District Magistrate (DM) speaking with the family has been widely shared since it appeared online.
“Don’t end your credibility. These media people … some left today and more will leave tomorrow. Only we will be here with you. Ok? It’s up to you if you want to change your statement or not. We can also change,” he said. he hears district magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar say in the video shot on a mobile phone.
In another video in circulation, a veiled woman, believed to be the victim’s sister-in-law, looks at the camera and cries. “They are pressuring us. They are saying that if our daughter had died from coronavirus, then she would have received compensation. They are saying that the case will be rafaa-dafaa (deleted). We are receiving warnings. Our father is receiving warnings,” he says, holding up to a baby.
“They are threatening us with videos of the mother (of the victim). At that moment she was talking whatever came to her mind … They will not let us live here. The DM is very clever, he is trying to deceive us. They are pressuring us. They are forcing us and saying that our statements are not trustworthy, we keep changing our statements and we have no credibility. “
The official denied the family’s accusation. “Yesterday I met with six relatives and we spoke for about an hour and a half. Today I met again with them to see their point of discontent. I deny the negative rumors about my interactions with them. Their main concern is that the accused should be hanged I tried to reassure them and told them that the matter would be tried in a fast track court, “Laxkar said.
The 20-year-old woman died Tuesday after fighting for her life for two weeks. She had suffered serious injuries after being assaulted by four upper caste men from her village in Hathras on 14 September.
He had multiple fractures, a spinal injury, and a deep cut to his tongue.
On Tuesday night, the Uttar Pradesh police took his body and cremated it at 2.30 am, against the wishes of his family and in his absence. The woman’s parents, who had begged to be allowed to take her body home one last time and hold her funeral the next morning, accused UP police of forcing cremation in a desperate attempt at cover-up.
The young woman, a Dalit, named her attackers in a statement on September 22. Four men, believed to belong to the upper Thakurs caste, have been arrested.
But the woman’s family accuses the police of misdemeanors at all times; They allege that the police initially refused to act and called the woman’s injuries “drama”. In recent days, they have accused the police and district officials of warning them more than once.
A high-ranking UP police officer claimed today that the Forensic Sciences Laboratory had said in its report that the woman was not raped.
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