Pooja Bhatt wants the term 'rape' not to be 'loosely used': 'Deflects from the horror....'

Amid the nationwide outrage triggered after a 19-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped and killed in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, actor and filmmaker Pooja Bhatt took to her Twitter handle to assert that the term 'rape' should not be 'loosely used' in 'context to acts that are not related to sexual assault'.

Asserting that the frivolous use of the word 'rape must stop', Bhatt highlighted that 'it deflects from the horror of rape' itself. 

The term ‘rape/raped’ used loosely as a description & in context to acts that are not related to sexual assault must stop. It deflects from the horror of all that rape signifies-physically,emotionally and mentally.

— Pooja Bhatt (@PoojaB1972) October 5, 2020

What is the Hathras rape case?

The victim was reported to be allegedly raped in Hathras on September 14 in a field, leaving her in a critical condition - all four accused have been arrested. When her condition worsened, she was referred to AIIMS but was admitted to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi on Monday with spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. She died around 3 am on Tuesday, but her autopsy report has no mention of rape - which has led to police claiming that the victim was 'not raped' highlighting that 'neck injury and trauma' were mentioned as the cause of death and that no traces of sperm were found in her private parts.

The case took an ugly turn when UP police cremated the victim's body at 2:30 AM on Wednesday, allegedly without the family's consent, which has been refuted by the police. The UP govt has suspended five police officers including the district's Police Superintendent (SP) Vikrant Vir for the 'midnight funeral', after the 3-member SIT's recommendation. Now, the case been transferred to the CBI on CM Adityanath's recommendation and an FIR has been filed under various sections of the IPC alleging criminal conspiracy to incite violence via the incident.

Hathras case: Sanjay Singh asks UP CM "Why don't you accept victim's dying declaration?"

AAP's Kuldeep Kumar visits Hathras family despite testing positive for COVID on Sept 29