- Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke to the victim’s family via video-link and assured them of rigorous action against the four men who were arrested.
- The chief minister has said a fast-track court will handle the case for speedy justice.
Facing nationwide anger over a woman’s gang-rape and death in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras and the manner in which the police cremated her in the middle of the night against her family’s wishes, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke to the family via video-link. He spoke to the woman’s father and assured him of rigid action against the four men who have been arrested.
The chief minister has said a fast-track court will handle the case for speedy justice.
A state government official said the SIT, headed by senior IPS officer Bhagwan Swaroop, has been asked to submit its report in seven days.
“The CM has spoken to the father of the deceased woman of Hathras. Her father asked for the harshest penalty against the accused. The CM assured him that the most stringent action shall be taken against the accused and all possible help shall be provided to the family of the deceased,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the CM and asked him to ensure strict action against the accused.
The CM assured PM Modi that the guilty will not be spared. He said the state government had a zero-tolerance policy against crime.
On September 14, the young woman had gone to the fields with her mother and went missing soon after. She was found later, beaten and tortured, her tongue cut as she bit it when the accused attempted to strangle her.
The family has alleged that the local police forced them to conduct the last rites late into the night even when they pleased with them to take the body home and cremate her in the morning. However, police claimed that the cremation was carried out “as per the wishes of the family” and news regarding cremation was “incorrect”.
In a video statement posted on her Twitter account, Priyanka Gandhi slammed CM Adityanath over the incident and said the CM has made a statement 15 days after the incident.
“After 15 days, he (Adityanath) has made a statement and what does he say that ‘PM called and I have constituted an SIT’. Were you waiting for the PM’s phone call, you could not do anything for 15 days, you did not provide her treatment, did not take her to a good hospital, she was brought to Delhi the day before yesterday,” the Congress general secretary said.
“What kind of treatment has been meted out to the family of the victim as they could not even take the body of their daughter home for one last time, her father could not light her funeral pyre and he was locked up in a room,” she alleged.
“This is the biggest example of how inhuman your government is. What all is happening in Uttar Pradesh and you are not taking responsibility… Is there no concern for women’s security in your state? Will you not take responsibility, what kind of a chief minister are you?” Gandhi said.
