The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath is being severely criticised over the Hathras gangrape and death case. Now, the BJP’s firebrand leader Uma Bharti too has raised questions over police’s action in the case, saying it has “dented” the Yogi government and the party’s image.
Taking to Twitter, Bharti said that the way in which Uttar Pradesh Police has laid siege over the village in Hathras, where the 19-yearold gangrape belonged to, raises many questions. “I saw about the incident of Hathras. At first, I thought that I should not say that because you must be taking action in this regard. However, the manner in which the police have laid siege over the village and the victim’s family may have many arguments, but also raises various fears,” she tweeted.
She further said, “To my knowledge there is no such rule that the family could not meet anyone during the SIT investigation. With this, the investigation of the SIT itself will come under doubt.”
Calling Adityanath a leader of “clean image”,” Bharti appealed to the chief minister to allow mediapersons and other political parties to meet the aggrieved family. “You are the ruler wvery clean image. I request you to allow mediapersons and political parties to meet the aggrieved family,” she tweeted. The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister further said that UP police’s “suspicious action” in the Hathras case has dented CM Adityanath, state government and BJP’s image. “She was the daughter of a Dalit family. She was cremated by the police in a hurry and now the family is under siege,” she said, adding: “We have just laid the foundation stone of Ram temple and have claimed to bring Ram Rajya to the country ahead but due to the suspicious action of the police on this incident, your, UP government’s and BJP’s image has been dented.”
The 19-year-old Hathras woman died at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital on 29 September, a fortnight after allegedly being gangraped. All the four accused in the incident have been arrested. The government has formed a three-member SIT to probe the case and said the matter will be heard in the fast track court.
The post-mortem report reads that the victim suffered a fracture of “C6 cervical vertebra” and there was “extravasations of blood along the fracture line” and the underlying spinal cord was “contused with ascending oedema”. Also, the postmortem report denies rape charges.