The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court will hear the family members of the Hathras gang-rape victim as well as the top government and police officials on Monday. The case in which a 19-year-old dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper caste men on September 14, leading to her death later on September 29, has shaken the conscience of the nation. With a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing into the incident parallelly, the probe has picked up the pace.
Security beefed up for family members
District judge of Hathras has been appointed as the nodal officer for the appearance of the Hathras victim’s family member before the high court. The police and district administration are working on an elaborate plan in this regard as to how many family members will go and when they will depart from Hathras.
The Hathras Police will be responsible for their security.
DIG Shalabh Mathur has been sent to Hathras from Lucknow as a nodal officer. He has said that if needed a control room would also be established in Hathras.
Sixty security personnel have been deployed and eight close circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the house.
Allahabad High Court hearing: What to expect
The Allahabad High Court took a suo moto cognisance of the case and expressed its shock over the incident and what followed later — a hurried and forced cremation of the victim allegedly without the consent of her family members.
{{/usCountry}}The Allahabad High Court took a suo moto cognisance of the case and expressed its shock over the incident and what followed later — a hurried and forced cremation of the victim allegedly without the consent of her family members.
{{/usCountry}}The division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh summoned Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary, state police chief and an additional director general of police, Hathras district magistrate and superintendent of police (SP).
Vikrant Veer was the SP when the incident took place. He has now been suspended and Vineet Jaiswal has taken charge.
The court will hear the officials and the family members.
Status of the SIT probe
Following the initial report of the Special Investigation Team, set up by the UP government, the state decided to suspend the police officers. The SIT is continuing its probe and has visited the village and met the family members. It is likely to submit its report next week after its deadline got extended by 10 days.