Amid widespread outrage over the alleged gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras and her subsequent forcible cremation, dozens of Ghaziabad lawyers demanded the imposition of President Rule in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Lawyers demanded the removal of Yogi Adityanath’s government and the imposition of President Rule, saying the gang rape of a Dalit woman and her brutality amid a series of crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh have tarnished the image of the country and they would flatten your progress graph.
Also read: Hathras victim’s father demands a CBI investigation claiming pressure from police, administration
The lawyers called for the imposition of President Rule in a memorandum addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind that they delivered to District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey.
Agitated lawyers arrived at the district collector in a march from the Civil Court under the banner of Adhivakta Sangharsh Samiti.
During the march, lawyers launched slogans against the government and burned effigies of Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath, accusing him of failing to control the “soaring” graph of crime against women in the state.
Addressing reporters after leading the lawyers’ march, the coordinator of the defense corps, Nahar Singh Yadav, said that the Yogi government has “totally failed to control crime in the state, even more so against women.”
Read also | Hathras gangrape: police crack down on protests after forcibly cremating the victim
“And the police, in turn, are hastily trying to remove the evidence to hide the crime graph, as happened in the case of the gang rape of the Dalit woman in Hathras, who was cremated by the police overnight.” Yadav said.
“The gang rape of Dalit women and their brutality amid a series of crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh has tarnished the image of the country and would flatten its graph of progress,” he added.
The defense body also demanded an impartial investigation into the case under the supervision of a retired Superior Court or Supreme Court judge.
“The case should be transferred to the fast track court of any other state,” Yadav said, adding that the government should provide protection to the family of the rape victim.
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The body of lawyers also demanded a government job, a house in Delhi, and 2 million rupees compensation for the family of the gang rape victim Hathras.
In addition to the lawyers’ rally, a group from Balmiki Samaj held a protest march from the Balmiki Park of the Navyug market to the collector and launched slogans against the Yogi government and blocked traffic at many crucial traffic crossings.
They condemned the alleged forced funeral of the rape victim by the Hathras police without the consent of her parents and demanded the dismissal of the Hathras police officers responsible for it.
The Balmiki Samaj also called for the suspension of sanitation and cleaning work in Ghaziabad on October 3, said Balmiki City President Anil Kalyani.
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