High drama prevailed on Thursday as the Uttar Pradesh police personnel were seen pushing former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the ground on the Yamuna Expressway and later detained him, as he and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were walking towards Hathras to meet the family of the Dalit woman who was allegedly gangraped by four upper-caste men and died a fortnight later. Here are five developments and updates on the Hathras incident from Thursday:
— Rahul Gandhi along with Priyanka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rajiv Shukla and several other top leaders started walking towards Hathras to meet the family of the victims a day after the last rites of the rape victim was allegedly performed during the night in the absence of her family members. They had started walking after their vehicles were stopped near Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida.
Visuals later showed Uttar Pradesh Police personnel blocking them and pushing both Rahul and Priyanka. After the push, Rahul can be seen falling on the ground. Later, Rahul Gandhi told the media, "Just now police pushed me, lathicharged me and threw me on the ground. I want to ask, can only (Narendra) Modiji walk in this country? Can't a normal person walk? Our vehicle was stopped, so we started walking."
.@rahulgandhi assaulted by UP Police. His only crime ? He is wanting to go meet the family of brutal gang rape victim in Hathras.
— (@SaralPatel) October 1, 2020
We are no longer a democracy, UP is a Nazi state and UP police is Gestapo.#JusticeForIndiasDaughters #डरपोक_योगी pic.twitter.com/s2vlHxo99M
— Earlier on Thursday, the district administration in Hathras imposed Section 144 in the area and banned the entry of all 'outsiders,' including media persons, in the Boolgarhi village where the 19-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gangraped.
— The Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to probe the incident, has reached the village and is interacting with the family and other people to record their statements. The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly gangraped by four upper-caste men in Hathras on September 14 and referred to the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi on Monday with spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. She died around 3 am on Tuesday.
— The National Commission for Women (NCW) has written afresh to the Director General of Police in Uttar Pradesh, seeking an explanation over the hasty cremation of the 19-year-old Hathras gangrape victim by the UP police. "The Commission has now written to the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh seeking an explanation on the urgency to cremate the body of the victim in the middle of the night that too in the absence of her family. NCW has asked the administration to send a reply on the same at the earliest," a statement from the commission said.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also taken suo motu cognizance of the incident and has issued a notice to the Yogi Adityanath government. The Commission has directed the state government to provide adequate protection to the family of the deceased, keeping in view the gravity of the matter and also the aspect of the witness protection as there is apparent rift between two communities. The government has been asked to respond to the notice within four weeks.
— Meanwhile, protests have broken out in several parts of the country over the woman's brutal death and subsequent cremation in the dead of the night in Hathras allegedly under police pressure, and over the law and order situation in UP and women safety in general. The Delhi Police on Wednesday detained at least 80 persons who staged a protest over the Hathras gangrape case. This included 36 men and 44 women. "Today around 11.30 pm, members of different parties - AIDWA, DSDU, AISA AIMSS - tried to reach UP Bhawan, SP Marg to stage a protest demanding harsh punishment for accused persons in Hathras gangrape case. We have detained 80 people in this connection," a senior police officer told IANS.
With agency inputs