Woman gang-raped by four men in UP’s dies in Delhi
NEW DELHI : After days of struggle, a 20-year-old woman, who was gang-raped and left paralysed by four men in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, died in a hospital in Delhi on Tuesday morning.
The woman had suffered multiple fractures, paralysis and a deep gash in her tongue in the savage assault compared by many to the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape.
Injuries to her neck had left her paralysed and struggling to breathe, said doctors. She bit her tongue when her attackers were trying to strangle her. According to her brothers, even in that critical state, all she wanted was to go home and had said it often in hospital.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has now hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government over the shocking incident, alleging that there is “no semblance of security” for women in UP.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader tweeted in Hindi: “A Dalit girl who was the victim of demoniac behaviour in Hathras has passed away at Safdarjung Hospital. For two weeks she kept struggling between life and death in hospitals.”
She added that incidents of rape in Hathras, Shahjahanpur and Gorakhpur have left the state completely shaken. “Law and order in UP has deteriorated to a great extent. There is no semblance of safety for women. The criminals are committing crimes in the open,” said Priyanka Gandhi while demanding severe punishment for the killers of the 19-year-old woman.
“@myogiadityanath you are accountable for the safety of women in UP,” added Gandhi. Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted and said no hope left from the insensitive government now.
In the meantime, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the incident a matter of shame for the country as well as for the governments. He further demanded the hanging of the guilty.
“The death of Hathras victim is shameful for the entire society, country as well as for all the governments. It’s highly sad that so many daughters are being sexually assaulted and we have not been able to protect them. The guilty must be hanged at the earliest,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
News of her death led to protests outside the hospital with the Bhim Army of Chandrashekhar Azad “Raavan” blocking roads for hours and protesters chanting “hang the rapists”. On social media, there has been an outpouring of grief and anger from politicians, celebrities and others.
All four attackers, upper caste men from the woman’s village, are in jail. They will now also be charged with murder. The woman was attacked on September 14 at her village in Hathras, some 200 km from Delhi. In her statement to the police, she said she was dragged by her dupatta into the fields from a spot where she had been cutting grass with her mother and brother.
“My mother, sister and elder brother had gone to a field to get some grass. My brother went home earlier with a large bundle of grass, while my mother and sister continued to cut them. The women were a little far from each other. Four-five people came from behind, threw my sister’s dupatta around her neck and dragged her inside the bajra field,” the woman’s brother told media.
When the family searched, they found her in the fields, naked and bleeding, with horrific injuries. “My mother covered her up and we went to the police and lay her down there. Three bones on her neck were broken. She had difficulty breathing… She needed oxygen right from the beginning,” he said.
“They had raped her. The police did not help us initially… they did not take quick action. They acted only after four-five days,” he said, accusing the police of reacting only after public outrage. The UP police is under scrutiny over alleged lapses throughout the case. They initially registered an attempted murder case but added rape charges only after the woman’s formal statement.
A senior cop suddenly declared today that the woman’s allegations of rape were not confirmed. “The medical examination did not reveal anything related to rape. We have asked for a forensic report. We have sent the samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Agra and are awaiting a report , it will be available soon,” said Aligarh Inspector General of Police, Piyush Mordia.
The family believes the attack was planned; the same men had beaten up members of the family earlier. This morning, the woman’s brothers alleged more lapses by the police. “We were told that she would be taken to AIIMS but she was taken to Safdarjung,” one of them told reporters. They also sat on protest alleging that her body had been taken away withouttheir permission.
The Uttar Pradesh police has denied the family’s allegation of slow response. “This is a very unfortunate incident but we have been proactive in making arrests and helping the family in whatever manner possible . I will personally ensure swift investigation and that these men are tried in a fast track court,” Hathras police chief Vikrant Vir had told in an tv interview on Sunday.
UP’s ruling BJP has been attacked by the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party. “The Hathras gang-rape is a matter of shame for the nation,” said Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi.
(With Agency Inputs).
