‘Casteist Jungle Raj’: Oppn Slams Yogi Over Hathras Girl’s Death
A 19-year-old Dalit girl, who was gang raped by four upper caste men, died a fortnight after the attack on Tuesday.
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The Opposition on Tuesday, 29 September slammed the UP government over the death of Hathras gangrape victim and targetted the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state.
A 19-year-old Dalit rape victim, who was gang raped and left paralysed by four upper caste men, died a fortnight after the attack in a Delhi hospital on Tuesday. She was shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital in the national capital on Monday evening after her condition deteriorated.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the “casteist jungle raj” of UP was responsible for her death.
“UP’s casteist jungle raj has killed another young girl. The government tried to cover it up as fake news and left her to die. Neither this unfortunate event was fake, nor the girl’s death and the government’s cruelty,” Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi alleged that “law and order had collapsed in the state and there was no protection to women, even as criminals are roaming freely in Uttar Pradesh.”
She said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was answerable for the safety of women in the state.
BSP supremo and former UP CM Mayawati said that the government must provide all possible help to the victim’s family and that culprits must be brought to justice soon.
Samajwadi Party chief and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav took to Twitter to say that he doesn’t expect anything more from the “insensitive” state government.
‘Why is PM Silent?’
Congress leader Shama Mohamed and West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja questioned PM Modi’s silence on the matter.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar demanded swift justice for the victim’s family.
Congress Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: "Yogi Adityanath government kept sitting for eight days. Why was no action taken against the culprits all these days? It was only when the case was highlighted that the administration woke up."
She said that civil and police officials were in denial mode over the crime and even dubbed it "fake news".
VHP Demands Death Sentence For Victims
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Tuesday demanded the death sentence for the culprits. Dubbing the crime “shocking”, the VHP said: “It is a blot on humanity and shameful for all of us. We demand death sentence for the guilty.”
The VHP also demanded compensation and security to the 19-year-old victim's family. It said that it must be ensured that such crimes did not occur in the future.
The Case
On 14 September, the victim was dragged by the dupatta around her neck to a field when she had gone to collect cattle fodder, which injured her spinal cord.
Fakhrul Hoda, head of neurosurgery at the Aligarh hospital where she was being treated, told reporters that "surgery to fix her spine could only have been done after her condition improved. The damage to the spinal cord appeared to be permanent."
A week after she was hospitalised, the girl told the police that she had been raped by four men whom she also named. All four accused she named - Sandip, Ramu, Lavkush and Ravi - were arrested for gang rape, attempt to murder and under sections of the SC/ST Act.
Her father had told reporters on Sunday that the families of the four accused have been threatening them for speaking out. The girl had also told her family that the four men had threatened her with dire consequences if she informed anyone about the incident.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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