Hathras SP & 4 Police Officers Suspended
LUCKNOW: Amid nationwide outrage over the brutal gang-rape and murder , on Friday Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed to suspend the SP, DSP, inspector and some others officials, based on the preliminary investigation report. Vineet Jaiswal has been appointed as Hathras SP.
District’s Police Superintendent (SP) Vikrant Vir, Commanding officer Ram Shabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub Inspector Jagveer Singh, and Head Constable Mahesh Pal for the negligence of duty, based on the preliminary report submitted by the SIT. “Narco-polygraph tests of the SP and DSP will also be conducted.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avanish Awasthi said all these officers will have to undergo the test, along with family members of the deceased, to ascertain the truth behind the incident since they have been giving contradictory statements regarding the incident.
The father, around 50 years old, claimed he was pressured into going to a police station where the district magistrate and police officials made three members of his family sign some document. “But we are not satisfied with this.
My daughter’s case should be probed by the CBI and monitored by a Supreme Court judge. We are under pressure from officials and confined to our home while the media has also been disallowed from meeting us,” he said in a purported video shared by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Twitter.
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. The video was shared by Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday evening.
A 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men in Hathras on September 14 in a field, leaving her in a critical condition. Her body was hastily cremated at 2:30 am by the police in an apparent effort to thwart long-drawn demonstrations.
When her condition worsened, she was referred to AIIMS but was admitted to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi on Monday with spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. She died around 3 am on Tuesday, but her autopsy report has no mention of rape.
Police have claimed that the Hathras gangrape victim was ‘not raped’ after the postmortem report stated ‘neck injury and trauma’ as the cause of death and that no traces of sperm were found in her private parts.
An initial report by the Special Investigation Team or SIT probing the incident called for their suspension over allegations of mismanagement. The investigators have also asked for a narco-analysis, also known as lie-detector tests, of all those involved including the arrested suspects and the family of the victim.
However, protests flared in many cities across the country including one in Delhi on Friday that was attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Chandrashekar Azad, chief of the Bhim Army which represents members of the Dalit community, to which the woman belonged.
The police action in the case, including the furtive cremation and the curbs in the village to block the media and politicians, has been particularly criticised.
Taking up the issue on its own, the Allahabad High Court has sent out summons to top Uttar Pradesh officials. While the family say the woman died as the result of a brutal sexual assault, senior state police officer Prashant Kumar on Thursday said the woman died due to a neck injury. “No sperm was found in her forensic samples,” said Mr Kumar.
The ruling BJP has accused opposition parties, including the Congress which has played a key role in the protests of trying to politicise the issue, and assured that the family of the victim will get justice.
Facing searing criticism and calls for resignation in the wake of several such incidents in UP, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said those “who even think of harming a woman’s self-respect will face total destruction”.
(Bureau Report with Agency Inputs).
