PIL in Supreme Court seeking CBI probe in Hathras gang-rape and murder

Supreme Court

A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking a CBI probe or SIT investigation under a sitting or former Supreme Court or High Court judge in the gruesome gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district.

The PIL has been filed by social activist Satyama Dubey and advocates Vishal Thakre and Rudra Pratap Yadav. The petitioners urged the apex court to pass appropriate order for a fair investigation - either by the CBI or the SIT under a sitting or retired judge of Supreme Court or High Court - and transfer the case to Delhi, as Uttar Pradesh authorities had failed to take certain actions against the accused.

The plea said the victim was first raped and then brutally assaulted, and according to a medical report, her tongue was chopped and her neck and back bones broken by the accused, who belonged to an upper caste. The victim succumbed to her injuries at Safdarjung hospital in Delhi.

The petitioner said on September 14, the accused persons raped and brutally assaulted the victim when she was in the fields to collect fodder for her cattle.

It also said that the police have said the victim's cremation was being carried out as per the wishes of the family, which was not true, and the police personnel set fire to the body of the deceased, even as media persons were banned, as per the information received, said the plea.

The plea claimed the police did not perform their duties towards the victim, and were, instead, trying to shield the accused persons. "Because there was no arrest in this matter, the accused persons are moving freely and they have no fear at all... the family of the victim has been victimised by the upper caste persons and no action has been done by the authorities/police officials," said the plea.

The plea has also cited the statement of the victim's older brother, saying: "... I came to know about my sister being targeted by these men only when she recorded her statement. They told her if she didn't submit to their 'demands', they would shoot her brother dead."

The brother also added that the family was threatened when the victim was in hospital.

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