Delhi police and the woman’s family were involved in a confrontation outside Safdarjung hospital.
New Delhi:
The father and brother of the 20-year-old woman who was gang-raped and tortured by four men in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh two weeks ago were abducted by the police in a police vehicle, a black Scorpio with UP license plates. – after a vociferous and emotional protest outside the Delhi hospital where he died this morning.
The young woman’s family, along with a crowd of supporters and activists, had camped out in front of the city’s Safdarjung Hospital after her death, demanding to be informed of the location of her body and calling for justice, punishment for the four accused.
According to the PTI news agency, security has now been increased outside the hospital, where heated discussions between protesters and police took place.
Earlier, footage from outside the hospital showed hundreds of people gathered around the Scorpio, and amid the shouting and shoving of protesters, other police officers could be seen trying to control the situation.
The family had claimed that they were being forced to return to Hathras while authorities tried to secretly dispose of the woman’s body.
The police had previously managed to force the woman’s father into the car, but her brother refused and continued with his protests. Later images showed that the father had also gotten out of the car.
The family had refused to relent until they were informed of the woman’s body and assured justice: that the four men accused of their gang rape, torture and now murder will be punished.
Police said the protests had become unmanageable, particularly during the Covid pandemic.
The protesters, police said, were not following social distancing rules and few, if any, of them wore face masks. Police also said the families of other patients had raised concerns about the possibility of the virus spreading among them.
Images from the hospital showed a lot of confusion and uproar, making it difficult to identify the protesters from the crowd and how they were or were not behaving.
Hathras: The four attackers, upper caste men from the women’s village, are in jail.
The young woman suffered multiple fractures, paralysis and a deep cut to her tongue in the savage assault compared by many to the Nirbhaya gang rape in 2012.
The injuries to her neck had left her paralyzed and having difficulty breathing, doctors said. She bit her tongue when her attackers tried to strangle her. According to her brothers, even in this critical condition, all she wanted was to go home and she had said this often in the hospital.
The news of his death sparked protests outside the hospital with Chandrashekhar Azad’s Bhim Army blocking the roads for 10-15 minutes and protesters shouting “hang up the rapists.” On social media, there has been a torrent of pain and anger from politicians, celebrities, and others.
The four attackers, men of upper castes from the village of women, are in jail. Now they will also be charged with murder.
The woman was attacked on September 14 in her village of Hathras, about 200 km from Delhi.
In her statement to the police, she said that her dupatta dragged her into the fields from a place where she had been cutting grass with her mother and brother.
Members of Chandrashekar Azad’s Bhim army protested outside the hospital today.
When the family searched, they found her in the fields, naked and bleeding, with horrible injuries.
“My mother covered her and we went to the police and laid her there. Three bones in her neck were broken. She had difficulty breathing … She needed oxygen from the beginning,” one of the woman’s brothers told NDTV.
“They had raped her. The police did not help us initially … they did not take quick action. They acted only after four or five days,” he said, accusing the police of reacting only after public outrage.
UP police are under scrutiny for alleged lapses throughout the case. They initially registered an attempted murder case, but added rape charges only after the woman’s formal statement.
They have denied the family’s slow response charge.
“This is a very unfortunate incident, but we have been proactive in making arrests and helping the family in any way possible. I will personally ensure a speedy investigation and that these men are tried in fast-track court,” said the police chief of Hathras, Vikrant Vir, to NDTV. on Sunday.
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