On Hathras Nighttime Cremation, UP Puts Forth Intel Inputs, Violence In the Supreme Court

UP tries to justify its act of hasty cremation before the SC

Tuesday, 6th October 2020

The cremation of Hathras rape victim took place in the darkness of the night in order "to avoid large-scale violence" the next morning, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court today citing intelligence inputs of "major law and order problems".

Through an affidavit done to the highest court of India, Supreme Court, the Uttar Pradesh Government gave explanations justifying the hasty cremation at 2.30 am. In their explanation the government said that due to the verdict of the Babri masjid case a day after, there was pretty high alert all across the state and that’s the reason they had to cremate hastily.

"The district administration at Hathras had been receiving several intelligence inputs since the morning of September 29 on the manner in which the dharna had taken place at Safdarjung hospital and the whole issue was being exploited and a caste/communal colour was being given," said Uttar Pradesh.

The state of Uttar Pradesh also said that it had obtained specific inputs pointing out that many lakhs of rebels and protesters "of both communities/castes" along with many political party supporters plus the media would collect the next day in the village, "which is likely to turn violent and will lead to major law and order problems."

An alert too was issued due to the covid 19 safety regulations and verdict related to the Babri masjid, read the affidavit.

"In such extraordinary and severe circumstances, the district administration took the decision to convince the parents of the deceased to cremate her with all religious rites at night to avoid large scale violence in the morning to cremate the body of the victim that was lying for almost more than 20 hours after her death and post-mortem," said the Uttar Pradesh government.

It informed the court that after the execution of post-mortem, "there cannot be any bad intention" to cremate hurriedly "except to obviate the potential violent situation resulting from the planned caste divide by certain vested interests".

 Huge National outrage broke out on the issue of hasty nighttime funeral of rape victim aged 20 years. This Dalit woman was gang raped on the 14th of September. Soon she succumbed to serious injuries pertaining to the rape and breathed her last at the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi. Once her death news came out, protests broke out at the outside of the Safdarjung Hospital.

Her body was taken away by the Uttar Pradesh police and was transported to Hathras, her village. Her family pleaded with the cops for allowing the corpse of the girl to be taken to her home but it did not yield any result. When her funeral was taking place, her family was locked indoors.

Source: NDTV