The outrage and anger over the gruesome incident of gangrape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Hathras reached the national capital, with various political parties and social groups staging a protest at Jantar Mantar and seeking justice for the deceased on Friday evening.
The AAP, Bhim Army, Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), AISA, JNUSU and various other groups came together with a pretty much similar set of demands.
“Yogi Adityanath has to resign. The DM, SP and other personnel should be removed. The media and any who wish to meet the family of the victim should be allowed and the matter needs to be handed over to the CBI,” said Yogendra Yadav, summing up the list of demands.
The first to arrive on the scene were AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj, Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and Bollywood actor Swara Bhaskar.
“The reason behind the videos of intimidation, the shooting of the mouth by police officials and even the hurried cremation is because the incumbent BJP government is hand-in-glove with the accused. The accused are all upper caste and are close to Yogi Adityanath, hence why the probe is being mucked up,” said Bhardwaj.
“There is no way any of this could happen without the government specifically ordering it. A crime took place, we understand but the reason it has forced everyone to hit the ground is because of the spate of moral and sometimes actual crimes that took place in covering it up by the government,” added Mevani.
The protest reached its peak when Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal decided to appear and lend his support. “We have assembled here in grief. I pray to God that our daughter’s soul gets peace. I request the Uttar Pradesh government with my hands folded, hang the guilty as soon as possible. They should get such a punishment that no one will dare commit a crime like this again,” said the AAP leader to uproarious applause.
Actor Swara Bhaskar called for the protests to continue as long as justice was not served to the victim and her family. “It isn’t just about what took place in Hathras. This is about rapes everywhere in the country and this is about how actively this BJP government is working to cover it up. We will and have to fight. This fight has to hit them where it hurts,” she said.
Hundreds of people turned up at the protest site that was littered with leaders small and big sitting with their own groups and chanting slogans. Some even sang songs of peace, tranquility and victory.
While on the other hand, many women groups and student organisations had also joined in to demand for the matter to be handed over to the CBI.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad also turned up at the protest site. He was placed under house arrest by the UP Police in Saharanpur on September 30. “I walked out of the house and told the police, shoot me if you want to but I will attend the protest in Delhi. They say because of corona, we have imposed Section 144 in Hathras then why were many upper caste men protesting inside the village? Are they safe from Corona? This is the story of Dalit everywhere. We are trampled upon and crimes committed on us aren’t the same as crimes against others,” he said.