LUCKNOW: With a number of conflicting notions emerging in connection with the rape and murder of the 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras, the victim’s family resorted to the legal recourse by moving Allahabad High Court on late Wednesday evening alleging that the district administration had illegally confined them to their house.
Filing a habeas corpus writ petition, the victim’s family urged the court to direct the district administration to release them from illegal confinement and “be allowed to move out of their house and meet people”.
This writ petition, filed by the victim’s family including the victim’s father, her mother, and siblings, is posted for hearing on October 8.
Notably, the security was increased and CCTV cameras were installed at the victim’s house in Boolgarhi village of Hathras with the deployment of eight police personnel including lady cops, on the directives of the Supreme Court where UP government had filed an affidavit promising protection to the victim’s family on Tuesday.
Moreover, with ‘international conspiracy’ to incite caste violence surfacing in the case, the security at the house of the victim was spruced up by Hathras administration.
The family, in the petition, has claimed that they had been in the confinement at heir house since September 29 illegally by the district administration and were not being allowed to meet anyone.
One Surender Kumar, claiming himself to be the national general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Valmiki Mahapanchayat, stated that he was approached by the victim's family over the telephone and he had filed the petition on their behalf.
They have mentioned in the petition that “though at a later stage a few people were allowed to meet them, the district administration was not allowing them (the petitioners) to move out of their house at free will”.
In this petition, the petitioners have alleged that they were being prevented from meeting or communicating freely, thereby, in the breach of their right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to receive information.