NE NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, OCT 7
The UP government has given an additional 10 days to the three-member SIT investigating the alleged gang-rape and killing of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras as the “probe is not complete”, a senior official said Wednesday.
The special investigation team, constituted on September 30 and led by Home Secretary Bhagwan Swarup, was initially given seven days to submit its report.
But the UP government later sought a CBI probe into the case and the criminal conspiracy to spread caste conflict it has suspected. On Tuesday, it told the Supreme Court it wanted an apex court-monitored CBI inquiry into the incident to ensure “no vested interests will be able to create a fake, false narrative with oblique motives”.
“Yes…the time for submitting the report for the SIT has been extended by 10 days,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said.
Asked about the reasons for the extension, he added, “The reason is one. The probe is not complete.”
The Yogi Adityanath government is fighting severe criticism for its handling of the case, particularly after the local police burnt the woman’s body at night without the family’s approval. However, officials said the cremation was done “as per the wishes of the family”.
The government has claimed that some people were trying to foment caste tensions in the aftermath of the alleged rape of the woman by four “upper-caste” men on September 14. Quoting an FSL report, it has denied the rape charge.
Referring to “recent incidents”, Chief Minister Adityanath has said that “anarchist elements” were trying to trigger communal and caste violence in the state.
In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in response to a PIL, the government said there have been “orchestrated efforts to malign the image of government on social media by attributing baseless comments and building up a distorted narrative on the Hathras case”.
The woman died on September 29 of the grievous injuries she suffered during the assault.
AAP demands removal of UP women’s panel chief over her ‘silence’
Aam Aadmi Party workers in Gautam Buddh Nagar have questioned the “silence” of Uttar Pradesh Women’s Commission chief Vimla Batham over the Hathras case and demanded her removal from the post.
Around 50 AAP workers, including district unit president Bhupendra Jaduan, on Tuesday, tried to gherao Batham’s residence here over the issue but were stopped midway by police, party office-bearers said.
The AAP workers, who had started a march from the ISCKON temple in Sector 33 to her house nearby, submitted to police a memorandum addressed to UP Governor Anandiben Patel, demanding Batham’s removal in the wake of the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman after an alleged gangrape and over crimes against women in the state.
“Cases of rape with women and girls are emerging in the state every day. They are not safe in Uttar Pradesh. The state”s women commission chief Vimla Batham has not spoken a single word on these issues despite serious incidents in Hathras, Balrampur, Bulandshahr, etc, she has not gone to meet the victim”s families also,” stated the memorandum.
“Looking at the inactivity of the women’s commission chief, we demand her removal from the post,” the memorandum stated.
