E-Paper
Thakur mahapanchayat held in Hathras
AGRA:
AGRA:
Members from Brahmin and Thakur communities held a mahapanchayat or mega gathering on Friday roughly two kilometres from the village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district where a Dalit teenager was gangraped and murdered, and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the high-profile incident.
Despite prohibitory orders in the area, members of the upper-caste communities gathered at Baghna village and claimed that all four accused men -- Sandip Singh, Ramu, Lavkush Sikarwar and Ravi -- were innocent. The four men, who all belong to the dominant Thakur caste, have been arrested.
At the gathering, members threatened to launch an agitation unless hte accused were released. The members also referred to comments by the Uttar Pradesh additional director general of police (law and order) Prashant Kumar and Hathras district magistrate Praveen Kumar, who had cited the forensic lab report to reject charges that the 19-year-old Dalit woman was raped .
“There was representation of all in the mahapanchayat. We demand a CBI probe into the matter, besides narco test of members of the accused and the victim’s families so that the actual culprit gets punishment. The forensic science lab has not confirmed gang rape, thus all four (accused) should be released,” said Sumant Kishore Singh, the representative of chief of Hasayan block. Singh went from door to door to gather support of the upper castes on the issue.
“We will meet members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday and apprise them of the truth. If we do not get justice even then, a bigger agitation will be called,” said an upper caste member who attended the mahapanchayat, which began on Friday morning.
The state government has formed a three-member SIT to probe the case and the district administration has claimed that the matter will be heard in a fast- track court.
The victim belonged to the Valmiki (Dalit) community and had named four accused for brutalising and gang raping her.
She was gang raped and brutalised on September 14. After battling for life at JN Medical College in Aligarh, she was shifted to New Delhi on September 28 and died at Safdarjung Hospital the next day.
Initially, a case under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (attempt to murder) was registered against only one accused. Thereafter, Section 354 (attempt to outrage modesty) was added. Finally, a case of gang rape (376D) was registered against the four accused, all of whom are in custody.
