A day after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath recommended a probe by the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) in the alleged gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in the state’s Hathras district, a special investigation team (SIT) recorded the statements of the victim’s family members on Sunday.
The SIT team led by senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Bhagwan Swaroop is continuing with its investigation even as CBI has been asked to take over. The victim’s family, however, is not in favour of the CBI investigation and wants a judicial probe to be conducted in the case, which has sparked outrage and protests in the country.
The SIT team present in Hathras’ Boolgarhi village is interacting with the concerned people and has said, “anybody who wants to give a statement is welcome.” The team had earlier interacted with the villagers on Thursday and also visited the crime spot.
The woman was raped by four “upper caste” men on September 14 following which she was admitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College of Aligarh Muslim University after she was left partially paralysed. She was later shifted to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi where she died on Tuesday.
The woman’s body was forcibly cremated by the UP police on the following day at 2:30am against the wish of her family members. “We lied down in front of the ambulance but were removed and the cremation was forcefully performed at night,” one of her relatives said on Saturday.
The opposition has sought the chief minister’s resignation. Adityanath, however, has assured the harshest punishment for the culprits. “For the purpose of intensive investigation of the unfortunate incident of Hathras and all the points connected @UPGovt The case is being recommended through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). We are determined to bring the harshest punishment to all those responsible for this incident,” he wrote on Twitter.
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