Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday suspended Hathras Superintendent of Police and four other policemen for alleged dereliction of duty in the events that led to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman followed by her hasty cremation in the dead of the night in the absence of her family members. However, opposition parties demanded the suspension of District Magistrate Hathras.
Lashing out at Adtyanath, Samajwadi Party spokesperson and MLC Sunil Singh Sajan said, “When the entire nation stood up for the justice of the victim, when all the opposition parties came on road including the Samajwadi Party to protest against the incident, the CM suspended a few police officials but the real culprit is the DM who was threatening the victim’s family. Why is CM trying to save the culprit DM, when will CM take action against the big official who ordered cremation of the victim late night?”
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi tweeted, “@myogiadityanath ji What will happen if you suspend a few? On whose orders the Hathras victim and her family were made to suffer? The phone records of Hathras DM, SP should be made public. The Chief Minister should not try to deviate from his responsibility. The country is watching. @myogiadityanath Resign.”
There was speculation about District Magistrate Praveen Laxkar being suspended as well. The official was earlier this week was caught on camera issuing a veiled “threat” to the rape victim’s father as he asked him to comply with the government.
Those suspended included SP Hathras Vikrant Veer, Circle officer Ram Shabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub-Inspector Jagveer Singh and head constable Mahesh Pal. They were suspended on the basis of a preliminary investigation conducted by the state government.
Amid nationwide outrage over the brutal gang-rape and murder, Adityanath on Friday said the state government is committed to the safety of women and will ensure the strictest punishment is meted out to the four accused.
The 20-year-old Dalit woman was raped in a village in UP’s Hathras by four men on September 14. The woman had died two weeks after she was attacked brutally while helping her mother in the fields. She had suffered multiple fractures, paralysis and a gash in her tongue in the horrific assault.
She was admitted to Aligarh Muslim University’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital and shifted to Safdarjung Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday. The woman was cremated in Hathras during the early hours of Wednesday, with her family alleging that the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night.
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