The bench of the President of the Supreme Court will listen to the Hathras PIL (Archive)
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court will hear today a PIL (public interest litigation) requesting a CBI or SIT investigation, which will be led by a former superior court or superior court judge, into the alleged gang rape and murder of a 20- Dalit one-year-old woman in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh last month.
The PIL, presented by social activist Satyama Dubey and others, says a “fair” investigation is needed and points to inaction by UP Police, which has been criticized for its handling of the case, clashes with leaders of the opposition and a secret 2.30 am cremation of the body.
The PIL also wants the trial, when it starts, to be moved from UP to Delhi.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and including Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian will listen to the PIL via video conference.
UP Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has claimed that his government is “committed to the safety of women,” has already recommended a CBI investigation.
Five police officers, including the Police Superintendent, have been suspended from the Hathras district as the BJP government in the state tries to quell the coming barrage of criticism.
The young Dalit, who died in a Delhi hospital last week, suffered serious injuries, including one to the spine, in a savage assault that many have compared to the 2012 gang rape in the national capital.
UP police have been criticized for a secret cremation ceremony at 2.30am for the young woman
The shocking incident has sparked widespread protests, including one in Delhi where Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for the defendants, four men from the so-called upper castes, to be hanged.
The UP Police, in addition to facing accusations of failure to handle the woman’s complaint, has also been accused of being involved in proving that there was no gang rape, that the woman and her family lied. The traumatized family of the young woman has been asked to undergo lie detector tests.
The family has also alleged that they have been threatened and intimidated by the administration, including locking them in their homes while the police cremated the woman’s body and placing them under house arrest to prevent them from speaking to the media.
The police have also been involved in physical confrontations with opposition leaders: Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Congress, and Derek O’Brien from the Trinamool Congress.
On Monday, the police filed 19 FIRs, not against those accused of the assault, but against those who said they were plotting a “conspiracy” against the government of Yogi Adityanath.
The BJP, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh, is also under pressure for its apparent inability to prevent horrific crimes against women: the state has reported at least three assaults and alleged rapes since the Hathras case, including one involving 11 – one year old girl.
The party had previously dismissed the opposition protests as a “political stunt”, but was questioned by many after it deployed more than 200 police officers at a toll plaza on the Delhi-UP border to prevent the congressional leader, Rahul Gandhi, will visit the grieving family to offer his condolences.
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