Lucknow, Oct 12 (PTI): The family members of a 19-year-old Dalit woman, who died after allegedly being raped by four men in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district, are set to appear before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday.
Amid tight security, the victim’s father, mother and three brothers left Hathras at about 6 am and will reach Lucknow by noon.
The court on October 1 had asked the woman’s parents to apprise it of their version of the incident and had also ordered the Hathras district administration to arrange for their travel to the court and facilitate their appearance before it.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Shalabh Mathur, who had been sent to Hathras from Lucknow as a nodal officer, told PTI on Monday that, “The family has been sent to Lucknow from Hathras at about 6 am amid tight security. Those coming for appearance including victim’s mother, father and three brothers. Accompanying them are magistrate Anjali Gangwar and a circle officer besides policemen”.
The hearing is likely to be held in-person.
The case is listed for hearing before a division bench of justices Pankaj Mithal and Rajan Roy at 2:15 PM.
The high court had directed the district judge to ensure that the victim’s family members appear before it on Monday.
It has also summoned additional chief secretary, home; director general of police; ADG, law and order; and district magistrate and superintendent of police of Hathras to furnish the status report of the investigation in the case.
The state government has asked additional advocate general V K Sahi to represent it before the court.
The woman was allegedly raped by four men on September 14. She succumbed to severe assault injuries at a Delhi hospital a fortnight later which was followed by a hushed up cremation at night allegedly forced by the district administration.
The brutal injuries suffered by the woman and the administration’s move to cremate her body late at night triggered massive outrage among people resulting in a pitched political battle from Delhi to Hathras.
“Shocked” by the murder and alleged gang-rape of the Dalit woman and the subsequent forcible cremation, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had on October 1 summoned top government officials.
A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh had ordered the Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary, state police chief and an additional director general of police to appear before it on October 12 to explain the incident.
“The incidents which took place after the death of the victim on September 29, 2020, leading up to her cremation, as alleged, have shocked our conscience,” the bench had said in its order.
