LUCKNOW: Around 900 days after a Dalit girl was gang-raped and murdered in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, the three men accused in the gang rape and murder case, which sparked outrage across the country and worldwide, have been acquitted by an SC/ST court in the district while one has been held guilty, whose sentence will be announced post lunch on Thursday.
The rape charge could not be proved against the prime accused, his lawyer Munna Singh Pundir said.
The ghastly crime, which led to outrage across the country, took place at Bul Garhi village in Hathras on September 14, 2020. Sandeep Singh (20) was convicted under Section 304 of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The court fined him with Rs 50,000 of which Rs 40,000 would be paid to the victim’s family. The court acquitted Ravi (35), Luvkush (23) and Ramu (26).
All four upper caste men were charged with the gangrape and murder of the Dalit minor girl when she had gone to fetch fodder for cattle in her village. Severely injured and left partially paralysed, she was shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital from AMU Medical College. She died on September 29, 2020.
Not just that, the victim was cremated in the middle of the night in her village by the district administration, sparking accusations of a cover-up and widespread condemnation of Yogi Adityanath’s government.
The court held Sandeep (20) guilty under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, a lesser charge than section 302 (murder).
Ravi (35), Luv Kush (23) and Ramu (26) were acquitted in the case that triggered outrage and put the Yogi Adityanath government in the dock over law and order in the state.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 against Sandeep.
The charge sheet in the case was filed by CBI in the SC/ST court here against all four accused for murder and gang rape, and under sections of the SC/ST Act.
Lawyer Seema Kushwaha, who is representing the Dalit victim's family, said they will challenge the verdict in the high court.
The Hathras district administration and police were accused of having botched up the probe as they allegedly cremated the victim’s body in the dead of the night forcefully without the family’s consent or their presence.
WATCH:
How it unfolded
Sept 14, 2020: Dalit minor girl gang-raped & tortured in UP’s Hathras
Sept 28: Victim shifted to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi in critical condition
Sept 29: Victim dies
Sept 30: The body was taken to Bul Garhi village and cremated forcefully in presence of Hathras DM, SP at 2.30 am without her family’s consent
Oct 13: Allahabad HC takes suo motu cognisance of hurried cremation