Hathras case: 5 Samajwadi Party members allowed to enter village

This comes a day after Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, met her family after officials reopened the borders of the village.

Authorities on Sunday allowed a five-member delegation of the Samajwadi Party to enter the village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, where a Dalit woman was gang-raped by the four upper-caste men. The leaders are expected to meet the 19-year-old woman’s family.

Additional Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Awanish Kumar Awasthi meets the family members of a 19-year-old Dalit woman at Bulgadi village in Hathras. (PTI)

This comes a day after Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, met her family after officials reopened the borders of the village. However, it is still heavily barricaded to limit visitors including media persons and opposition leaders coming to meet the woman’s family.

Gathered at the barricades, the Samajwadi Party leaders said they will not move away.

Rashtriya Lok Dal’s vice president Jayant Chaudhary is also expected to meet the family members during the day. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad is also on his way to Hathras.

The Hathras case has triggered nationwide outrage as the opposition is demanding Yogi Adityanath’s resignation as the chief minister. Following the woman’s death on September 29, the local police cremated her body at the dead of the night, sparking allegations from opposition parties that the BJP-led state government was trying to bury the evidence.