Outrage, stir after Hathras rape victim’s death
The attack on the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government came after the Dalit woman from Hathras died at Safdarjung hospital in Delhi Tuesday morning, days after she was allegedly raped by four men.
The Congress on Tuesday questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and women leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), attacking the ruling party over the gang-rape of a 19-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras who died in New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi led the charge against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the incident, saying the “class-specific jungle raj” in Uttar Pradesh had killed another young woman. The woman was left with her legs paralysed fully and hands partially after the assault by four men on September 14.
“The government said that this is fake news and left the victim to die. Neither was this unfortunate incident fake nor was the death of the victim and the mercilessness of the government,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.
The attack on the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government came after the Dalit woman from Hathras died at Safdarjung hospital in Delhi Tuesday morning, days after she was allegedly raped by four men.
The woman was allegedly gang-raped following which she was admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh. She was referred to the Delhi hospital on Monday after her condition failed to improve .
The woman had gone to the fields with her mother and then went missing. She was later found injured, with her tongue cut because she bit it when the rapists attempted to strangulate her, the police said.
The Congress on Tuesday protested at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi, demanding justice for the victim. Its leaders PL Punia, Udit Raj and Amrita Dhawan, along with other functionaries were later detained at the Mandir Marg Police station.
Party general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government, alleging that there was “no semblance of security” for women in the state.
“A Dalit girl who was victim of demoniac behaviour in Hathras has passed away at Safdarjung Hospital. For two weeks, she struggled between life and death in hospitals,” she tweeted in Hindi.
Priyanka Gandhi said incidents of rape in Hathras, Shahjahanpur and Gorakhpur had shaken Uttar Pradesh.
“Law and order in UP has deteriorated beyond limits. There is no semblance of safety for women. Criminals are committing crimes in the open,” she said and demanded that the killers of this girl be punished severely.
“You are accountable for the safety of women in UP,” she said, referring to chief minister Adityanath.
At a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate alleged that for eight days, no gang-rape charges had been pressed and only after the media reported the incident did the police register a case.
She said the UP chief minister’s information advisor and the Agra Police, up until September 24, kept calling this “fake news”.
“Questions still remain. Why did it take eight days for the UP police to register a gang-rape case on her complaint, why was she immediately not transferred to a premier institute like AIIMS {All India Institute of Medical Sciences}, and instead was left to die in UP?” she asked.
“Why is it that these men who brutally assaulted, raped and murdered her, do not face NSA (National Security Act) charges and why is it that the UP chief minister is absolutely quiet on this?” Shrinate said.
The Congress leader alleged the police were “hand in glove” with criminals in UP while the state government extends “political patronage” to them.
“I will also raise questions on the absolute conspicuous silence of the Prime Minister, and women leaders of the BJP who had at one point in time said it is their moral duty to raise their voice on crimes against women and today when they are in charge of those departments, they do not utter a word,” she said.
“If one does not condemn this, then one is very much hand in glove with the criminals,” Shrinate added.
BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav also spoke out. In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati said, “The news of the death of Dalit victim after gangrape in Hathras, UP is very saddening. The government should provide all possible help to the victim’s family and ensure fast punishment to the culprits by prosecuting them in a fast track court. This is the demand of the BSP.” Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav condoled the death of a “Dalit daughter”.
“A Dalit daughter, who was a victim of gangrape and brutality, ultimately died. I condole her death. No hope is left with the present insensitive government,” Yadav wrote in a tweet in Hindi.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the young woman’s death was a shame for the entire society and the country as well as for all governments. “It’s highly sad that so many daughters are being sexually assaulted and we have not been able to protect them. The guilty must be hanged at the earliest,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.