Actress gets Y plus security, while Hathras victim’s family left at mercy of God, says Saamana

The Centre last month granted actor Kangana Ranaut Y-plus category security, which involves deployment of around a dozen guards, amid her war of words with the Shiv Sena

Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena on Tuesday hit out at the Centre over the rape and murder of the 19-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, saying her family has been left to the “mercy of God”. In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena warned of a Dalit backlash if injustice against the community continues.

Shiv Sena supporters hold a protest demanding justice for the 19-year-old Dalit woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped and assaulted in Hathras, outside Shivaji Park in Mumbai on October 3. (PTI)

The editorial said the woman’s family is living under fear as they are getting threats. “The Centre provides Y plus security to an actress from Mumbai but leaves the family of the Hathras victim to the mercy of God. This is not an element of equal law for all that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar provided in the Constitution,” it said.

The Centre last month granted actor Kangana Ranaut Y-plus category security, which involves deployment of around a dozen guards, amid her war of words with the Shiv Sena. The verbal duel began after Ranaut likened Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and said she feared Mumbai Police.

The editorial called Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s demand for 50% subsidy for the Dalits to buy guns for self-protection the “first spark” of Dalit backlash. It added former Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Rajveer Singh Pahalwan held a rally in support of the Hathras accused. “All this adds to the terror in which the victim’s family is living. Besides that, it adds to the communal discord... The government should not add fuel to the fire.”

The editorial said Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath government handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) even as the family did not seek it. It added instead the family sought a judicial probe. “Using the force of police, the voice of the victim’s family was muzzled. The dead body of the victim was burned in the night. Lathis were rained down on the political leaders who went to meet the family of the victim. When the public opinion started shifting, the Yogi government... handed over the case to CBI. Handing over the probe to CBI proves that Yogi Adityanath does not trust his police.”