Hathras Case: UP government demands court-monitored CBI probe in SC

Hathras : Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday asked Supreme Court to order a court-monitored CBI probe in the Hathras case, which has triggered protests across the country, in an affidavit filed before the top court.

The state government explained why the body of 19-year-old Dalit girl was cremated in night, claiming that it was done to avoid law and order situation in the state. The government has blamed political parties and civil society organisations for attempting to create a caste divide in the aftermath of the crime in September.

"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 said.

The affidavit also called it a "vicious propaganda" by political parties and some people of the society to mislead the public and disrupt calmness in the state.

"The state government is committed to conduct free and fair investigation to reach the truth. The state govt seeks indulgence of this court to direct the CBI to investigate into the incident and into criminal conspiracy to spread caste conflict and instigate violence and incidents of propaganda by certain sections of media and political interests," the UP government said in the affidavit.

The woman was allegedly gang-raped on September 14 and she died in the hospital in New Delhi two weeks later.