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Hathras gangrape-murder case verdict: 3 of 4 accused acquitted, one convicted
Hathras case verdict: The main accused - Sandeep Sisodia - has been found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder but not of rape, according to reports.
Three of four men accused in the 2020 Hathras case - in which a young Dalit woman was raped and murdered by her so-called upper caste attackers - were set free by an Uttar Pradesh court Thursday. The fourth - a Sandeep Sisodia - was found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The three acquitted have been identified as Ravi, Ramu and Luv Kush, news agency ANI said. Quantum of punishment is due to be announced later today.
Seema Khushwaha, the lawyer who represented the woman's family, have said they will challenge the verdict. The final order has not yet been released.
The gruesome crime sparked furious protests across India and made headlines globally. A 20-year-old woman was assaulted at her village - about 200 km from Delhi. She told police she was dragged from a field in which she was working.
She died of fractures and mutilations - which drew parallels to the 2012 Delhi gangrape - that left her paralysed and struggling to breathe and was cremated in a secretive midnight funeral her family was allegedly barred from.
This triggered more outrage but was defended as needed to avoid violence.
The Allahabad High Court had taken cognisance of the case in October 2020, saying the crime - had 'shocked' its conscience.
Ten days later the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which filed its chargesheet against the four accused in December of that year.
The CBI had charged all four men with gang-rape and murder.
The police and chief minister Yogi Adityanath's government were attacked by the opposition over alleged lapses in the handling of the investigation and treatment of the young woman - while she was alive and after her death.
