Hathras case:Akhilesh slams U.P. govt for challenging HC order on relief to family

The state government had submitted that it was ready to relocate the victims’ family members but they wantedto be shifted to either Noida or Ghaziabad or Delhi. Additional advocate general (AAG) of Uttar Pradesh Garima Prasad said that this was a question of law whether the elder, married brother could be regarded as a “dependent”.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for challenging a high court order to relocate and provide employment to the family of the Hathras woman found dead after alleged rape. Akhilesh said their “harassment” was like “mental rape”.

The family of ‘Hathras ki Beti’ (daughter of Hathras) was now being made to run by the BJP government, that made false promises of job and relocation, said SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet. (Pic for representation)

The state government’s plea challenging the Allahabad high court order was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Monday. While dismissing the petition of the state government, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala had expressed surprise over the fact that the state had filed an appeal against a high court order.

“The family of ‘Hathras ki Beti’ (daughter of Hathras) is now being made to run by the BJP government, that made false promises of job and relocation. This harassment and humiliation is no less than mental rape or ‘manobal ki hatya’ (murder of morale),” Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi with hashtag “Hathraskibeti”.

The state government had submitted that it was ready to relocate the victims’ family members but they wantedto be shifted to either Noida or Ghaziabad or Delhi. Additional advocate general (AAG) of Uttar Pradesh Garima Prasad said that this was a question of law whether the elder, married brother could be regarded as a “dependent”.

But the Supreme Court bench had said it was not inclined to interfere with the high court order, considering the “special facts and circumstances” of the case.

The 19-year-old woman died in a Delhi hospital a fortnight after she was allegedly raped by four men from her village in Hathras on September 14, 2020. On March 2, a special court in Hathras sentenced the main accused to life imprisonment while acquitting three other accused.

(With PTI inputs)