Hathras case: SIT gets 10 days extension to submit its report
New Delhi : The three-member special investigation team (SIT) has been given an extension of 10 days to submit its report on probe into the alleged gang-rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman.
On the basis of preliminary investigation reports submitted by the SIT, the Uttar Pradesh government had suspended Hathras SP and four other police officers for not 'handling' the case in a proper manner. The SIT, headed by Uttar Pradesh home secretary Bhagwan Swaroop, also recommended lie-detector tests for all those who are involved, including the family members of the victim.
Deputy inspector general of police Chandraprakash and IPS officer Poonam are the other two members of the SIT.
The Dalit girl was allegedly raped on September 14 and was left to die on the fields where she was working with her mother. She was first admitted to Aligarh Muslim University’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College from where she was shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital after her condition worsened. On September 29, she succumbed to her injuries in Delhi.
The whole matter became uglier after UP Police cremated her body at night with nobody from her family being present, though Hathras police denied all charges.
Amid nationwide protest, the UP government took some ‘corrective measures’ and relaxed the restrictions. On Tuesday, the SIT team went to the village, examined the spot where the women was cremated.
On Monday, UP government has filed an affidavit in Supreme Court asking for a court-monitored CBI probe in the matter. In the affidavit, the government also explained that the midnight cremation was done to avoid large-scale violence, which was apprehended next morning.
"The district administration took the decision to convince the parents of the victim to cremate her with all religious rites at night to avoid large scale violence in the morning. Once the post mortem of the deceased victim was already conducted at Safdarjung hospital, New Delhi, there cannot be any bad intention on the part of anyone to expedite the cremation except to obviate the political violent situation resulting from planned caste divide by certain vested interests," the affidavit filed by the state government before the Supreme Court said.
