Hathras gangrape: Yogi Adityanath govt recommends CBI probe; Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi meet victim's kin

The Uttar Pradesh government announced on Saturday that it is reccomending a  CBI probe in the Hathras case amid a growing political storm over the death of a 19-year-old Dalit victim who was assaulted and allegedly gang-raped by four “upper caste” men. The Uttar Pradesh administration on Saturday removed the barricades outside the girl’s village to allow the media to meet her family. Later in the day, it also allowed five Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi to meet the rape victim’s family. However, the scene of scores of police personnel in riot gear lined up at the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway to prevent a Congress convoy from moving to Hathras, about 180 kilometres away, summed up the resistance Opposition leaders have been facing in meeting the victim’s family. On Thursday, Priyanka and Rahul’s attempt to travel to the village was blocked by the Uttar Pradesh Police, which had led to a chaotic scuffle. They were then detained by the state police and escorted back to Delhi. On Saturday, they made a second attempt to visit the family, after the state government lifted restrictions on entry into the village for the media. As the convoy arrived at the site, swarms of Congress workers and others jostled with each other amid loud honking, slogans, and Congress flags fluttering in the air. Reports said  that the police lathi-charged party workers at the toll plaza. In a video  shared  by Congress leaders and  ANI on Twitter , Priyanka can be seen standing between a man in a white kurta and policemen with lathis. [caption id=“attachment_8877071” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A scuffle broke out between Congress workers and UP Police at the DND flyway on Saturday. AFP[/caption] An NDTV report  said that the man being shielded from the police by Priyanka was injured. Congress workers — some who described the scenes as “brutal repression” — claimed that the police used batons to disperse the crowd. Eventually, the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police finally allowed five leaders, including Rahul and Priyanka, to go to Hathras.  UP Congress leaders Pradeep Mathur told PTI that KC Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Mukul Wasnik accompanied the Gandhis on the visit. “CrPC Section 144 has been imposed in Noida, Greater Noida as well as in Hathras and some other districts in Uttar Pradesh due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Considering social distancing and other related norms, permission has been granted for five people, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,” Noida Police Commissioner Alok Singh told PTI. The Hathras gangrape has drawn nationwide outrage after the victim died due to grievous injuries on Tuesday and was  cremated in the dead of night  allegedly without the consent of her family on Wednesday. Till Saturday, the government had not allowed anyone, including Opposition leaders to meet the victim’s kin despite accusations of intimidation by district authorities. Will fight till justice is given, says Priyanka Gandhi after meeting victim’s kin Speaking to reporters after meeting the family members, Rahul and Priyanka said that “they will fight for justice” for the victim. “We will fight against injustice, and fight till justice is done,” Priyanka said after the meeting that lasted about 45 minutes on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, Rahul said “no power can stifle the voice of the family”. [caption id=“attachment_8877281” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra meet the Dalit gangrape victim’s family in Hathras. PTI[/caption] PTI reported that locals gathered outside as the Congress leaders entered the family’s home. Some were seen on the rooftops nearby, waiting to catch a glimpse of the Congress leaders. Meanwhile, several journalists, including those from TV channels, also made their way to the village where various family members spoke of their grief and trauma since 14 September, when the victim was brutally assaulted and allegedly gangraped by four upper caste men. Earlier, in the day, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had  tweeted  that over 50 party MPs were expected to travel to the family’s residence. Tharoor had also appealed for the state government to “behave sensibly”  alleging  tthat its Uttar Pradesh unit president Ajay Kumar Lallu and other workers were put under house arrest. Meanwhile, Union women and child development minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani has termed the Gandhis’ plan to visit the victim’s village as a political gimmick. “Rahul Gandhi’s march towards Hathras is for politics, not for justice,” Irani said, according to a  report  in Hindustan Times. UP official meets victim’s family in Hathras Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi also visited the victim’s family in Hathras on Saturday. Marking a departure from the last few days when media and politicians, including from the Congress and TMC, were turned away from the village, Awasthi said Saturday that a group “with no more than five people” will be allowed to meet the victim’s family at a time. Speaking to reporters after meeting with the victim’s family on Saturday, Awasthi said, “It is an extremely sad incident. We met everyone in the family. We spoke to them and assured them that the strictest action would be taken against all those found guilty.” “Whatever points and the complaints they have raised, the SIT will note them, and we will make all efforts to ensure that each of them is addressed,” Awasthi said, without elaborating. [caption id=“attachment_8877081” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Rahul Gandhi was among the Congress leaders allowed by the UP Police to travel to Hathras. AFP[/caption] Awasthi said that the government has received the first report from the SIT, following which it had suspended five policemen involved in the case. On Friday, the state governemnt suspended five police personnel, including Hathras SP Vikrant Vir. Amid allegations of intimidation by the district administartion, the state government also announced that all, including the cops and the victim’s family, will have to undergo a polygraph and narco test to establish the veracity of their claims. Awasthi also said tha the SIT would soon submit a final report to the chief minister. The Indian Express had also reported earlier on Saturday that Uttar Pradesh DGP HC Awasthy also met the family on instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Adityanath had set up three-member Special Investigation Team on Wednesday and instructed that it submit its report by 14 October. The death of the young woman, whose brutal assault recalled for many, the horrors of the gangrape of Jyoti Singh on 16 December, 2012 in Delhi, continued to snowball into a major political issue. Earlier today, in a tweet in Hindi using the hashtag ‘Hathrashorror’, Rahul said the behaviour of the Uttar Pradesh government and police with the woman and her family “is unacceptable”. The former Congress president asserted that “no power in the world” can stop him from meeting this grieving family in Hathras and sharing their pain. Hitting out at the Adityanath dispensation, Priyanka described the state government as “morally corrupt” and said, “The victim did not get treatment, her complaint was not registered on time, her body was forcibly cremated, the family is in captivity, they are being suppressed — now they are being threatened that they will have to undergo a narco test.” The party also alleged that the woman and her family had been denied justice and “severely traumatised” by the BJP government. Mamata, Mayawati slam UP govt Meanwhile, other Opposition leaders also criticised the government and state police’s handling of the case.According to reports, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to participate in a protest rally in Kolkata on Saturday against the gangrape and murder of the Dalit girl. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre for running a “dictatorship” in the country and said the saffron party is a “pandemic” which is torturing Dalits the most. Banerjee, who held a protest march against the Hathras gang rape case, said she will stand by the Dalit community “till the end as her caste is humanity” and she does not believe in differentiation on the grounds of caste and religion. The march, the first by the TMC supremo since March when the nationwide lockdown was declared to break the coronavirus infection chain, covered the 2-kilometre distance between Birla Planetarium to Gandhi statue on Mayo Road in Kolkata. Banerjee, who is gearing up for Assembly polls in the coming year, said, “COVID-19 is not a big pandemic. BJP is the biggest pandemic. It is the biggest pandemic of atrocities against Dalit and backward communities.” “We should stand up against these atrocities … The kind of atrocities that are taking place are completely unacceptable,” she said addressing the rally. “A dictatorship is going on across the country. Instead of government for the people, it is running a government against the people, the Dalits and the farmers.” Left and Congress activists also held a protest in Kolkata on Saturday against the Hathras case. Carrying placards having slogans such as “Defeat fascist BJP at Centre and TMC in Bengal” and “Down with fascists who throttle democracy”, around 1,000 members of the CPM, Congress and their affiliates marched from Moulali to Esplanade in the heart of the city in the afternoon. Additionally, BSP president Mayawati demanded a CBI or a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the incident and said people were not satisfied with the initial investigations in the matter. “There is tremendous resentment in the entire country over the Hathras heinous gangrape case. The public does not seem satisfied with the initial probe report. Therefore, this matter should be investigated by the CBI or under the supervision of the honourable Supreme Court. This is the demand of the BSP,” Mayawati tweeted in Hindi. The BSP leader also appealed to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, to intervene in the case. “Also, the honourable president of the country, who also comes from Uttar Pradesh and is a Dalit, it is a strong appeal to him to intervene in this case, keeping in mind the inhuman attitude of the government, to bring justice to the victim’s family,” she said. With inputs from agencies