The Lucknow court of the Allahabad High Court on Monday criticized the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to forcibly incinerate a Dalit rape victim in the middle of the night in Hathras district as it began hearing the sensitive case that it shook India and sparked angry street protests.
A bank of the Pankaj Mithal and Rajan Roy judges division recorded the statements of five relatives of the 19-year-old woman who died about three weeks ago, and senior state government officials. He set November 2 as the next hearing date. The media were excluded from the heavily secured audience, which was attended by approximately 15 people.
The victim’s family also demanded that the high-profile trial be moved out of state, said his attorney Seema Kushwaha.
The court took serious note of the Hathras district administration’s decision to incinerate the woman’s body at 2.30 am on September 30, said Seema Kushwaha, the lawyer for the victim’s family. “During the hearing, the court asked the officials ‘if the girl belonged to your family, would you have done the same’?” Kushwaha said.
HT was unable to independently verify the court’s exact observation because the media were unable to enter the courtroom.
The bank also asked the government if the victim would be cremated overnight if he belonged to a rich family, rather than a poor one, according to Kushwaha.
Hathras District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar told the court that the decision to cremate the victim was made due to public order considerations and that there was no pressure from the state government. The government had received intelligence that law and order could deteriorate due to the protesters the next morning, the court was told in an affidavit.
“A police officer at the level of the additional director general of police will appear in court at the next hearing. The court exempted the family from appearing at the next hearing, “said additional attorney general Vinod Kumar Shahi, who represented the state government. “The relatives of the victim have presented their version. We have presented our side, “he added.
Lead attorney JN Mathur, who was appointed amicus curie by the court, stated that all citizens had the right to be cremated with dignity by family members according to their religious practices. He cited article 25 of the Constitution on the right to freely practice religion. The family, through Kushwaha, told the court that the police presence in the village was sufficient to control any situation, especially when the borders of the district were sealed.
In court, Kushwaha filed three demands: maintaining the confidentiality of the facts related to the investigation and the report of the special investigation team (SIT), transferring the trial out of Uttar Pradesh and providing security to the relatives until the case is concluded. “The family wants the case to be transferred to Delhi or Mumbai,” he told reporters outside the court.
The victim, who came from the Valmiki caste, was raped on 14 September by four men from the dominant Thakur caste when she had gone to the fields to collect fodder for cattle. He died in Delhi in the early morning of September 29. At 2:30 a.m. the next day, the police forcibly cremated her in a field near the village, prompting protests from opposition parties and Dalit groups.
The government established an SIT and a separate investigation into an alleged international conspiracy to defame the state administration and suspended five police officers. The government has also denied that the woman was raped, citing a forensic report, although experts have noted flaws in the protocol and pointed to her death statement, where she said she was raped. Four defendants, all of the Thakur caste, are in jail.
The HC took suo-motu (by itself) knowledge of the case on October 1.
On Monday, the court recorded the statements of the woman’s father, mother and three brothers. They all traveled from Hathras to Lucknow under tight security in a six-car convoy.
The court also recorded the statements of the additional chief secretary (inmate) Awanish Kumar Awasthi, the police general director HC Awasthy, the additional police general director (public order) Prashant Kumar, the Laxkar police superintendent and Hathras Vineet Jaiswal.
Mathur said the court ordered the state government to ensure that such incidents of rape did not take place in the future. In response, Awanish Awasthi assured the judges that the government would finalize a plan.
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