LUCKNOW: Upper caste members, including Thakurs and Brahmins, attended a Mahapanchayat at Baghna village, two kilometres from the Hathras gang rape and murder victim’s village Boolgarhi, on Saturday and said all the four accused in the case were innocent. They demanded a CBI probe into the case.
They threatened to launch an agitation if the arrested accused were not released. They also referred to the report of the Agra Forensic Science Lab and the autopsy report of Delhi hospital.
As per the sources, the common refrain at the Mahapanchayat was to demand the authorities to probe how the first FIR report registred by the brother of the victim did not mention the incident of rape at all.
“How is it possible that the narrative of rape emerged eight days after the incident on September 22,” felt the elders belonging to upper castes at the Mahapanchayat.
“There was the representation of all in the Mahapanchayat. We demand a CBI probe into the matter, besides the Narco test of members of the accused and the victim’s families so that the actual culprit gets punishment. The forensic science lab has not confirmed gang rape, thus all four (accused) should be released,” said Sumant Kishore Singh, the representative of Hasayan block pramukh.
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati demanded a probe either by the CBI or a sitting Supreme Court judge into the alleged gangrape and murder of the Dalit woman.
Former UP CM and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded the state government register FIRs against the Hathras district magistrate and the SP.
The 19-year old survivor died at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday. She had suffered multiple fractures, paralysis in a brutal attack on September 14 in Boolgarhi village in Hathras district. First, she was admitted to a local hospital and later shifted to JLN Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh. Later, on September 22, the victim accused four youths of her village of gangrape. Later, quoting the FSL, Agra report, the police claimed that the girl was not assaulted sexually.
On Friday, the Uttar Pradesh government had suspended five police officials including Hatrhas SP Vikrant Vir on the basis of the preliminary report by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to CM Yogi Adityanath. He was replaced with Shamli SP Vineet Jaiswal. The SIT report even allegedly recommended narco-analysis and polygraphic tests for everyone involved in the case.
While taking to twitter, Mayawati said: “There is a nationwide outrage against the Hathras brutal gangrape case. People are not satisfied with the initial probe reports that have come. BSP demands a probe by the CBI or a probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court.”
She further said, “At the same time, the party makes a fervent appeal to President of India (Ramnath Kovind), since he hails from UP and is a Dalit, to intervene and ensure the victim’s family justice.”
Similarly, in a tweet in Hindi late on Friday, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav who had been abroad and arrived Lucknow on Saturday morning, demanded an FIR against the DM and the then SP of Hathras in order to extract the truth about what they did under pressure and at whose behest.
Hathras district police have come under severe criticism for cremating her body in the middle of the night without the family’s consent, and for throwing a cordon of police officers around the village that stopped the entry of all journalists, and now for allegedly seizing the phones of the victim’s family members.