Hathras case: Victim's family refuses to travel at night to appear at HC; police reassures

As CBI begins to probe the Hathras case, the victim's brother on Sunday, stated that the family will not travel at night to Lucknow to appear before the High Court. Assuring their safety, newly-appointed Hathras SP Vineet Jaiswal stated that a DSP rank officer and an SDM rank magistrate will be present during their journey to Lucknow. The CBI has registered a case and lodged an FIR under IPC 307 (Attempt to murder), 376 (gang rape) 302 (Punishment for murder) and the SC/ ST Act in the Hatharas case -  where a 19-year-old Dalit woman was reported to be allegedly gang-raped and murdered by four upper-caste men.

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Family: 'Won't travel at night' 

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Allahabad High Court takes cognisance

Earlier on Saturday, the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench has summoned top police officials - DGP, ADG (Law & Order), Additional Chief Secretary, Home Minister, District Magistrate Hathras, SP Hathras on October 12. This is after the HC took suo-moto cognizance of the case and to file the investigation report along with other necessary documents. The court also summoned the victim's family, tasking the administration with the responsibility to present them in court. The Uttar Pradesh government has named AAG Vinod Shahi as the special advocate to represent it. Currently, a 3-member SIT comprising of Home Secretary Bhagwan Swarup, DIG Chandraprakash, and Commandant Poonam is probing into the case.

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Hathras family: "DM pressurised us"

As the sealed district was opened to media and others, the victim's family had revealed that the family had been kept locked in their houses for the past two days and that the DM had pressurised the kin. Questioning as to why their sister was cremated at night, the family has asked an SC-monitored probe by a retired judge in the case. A bevy of politicians like Gandhis, Sanjay Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad apart from government officials have visited the family. Though the government has installed CCTV cameras and deployed 60 police officials for the protection of the victim's family, several upper-caste men have been protesting outside the victim's house in Hathras, in favour of the accused, stating that 'rape did not occur'.

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What is the Hathras gangrape case? 

A 19-year-old woman in a village in UP's Hathras district was reported to have been brutally gang-raped by 4 men when she was collecting fodder for her cattle on September 14 - all four accused have been arrested. The victim succumbed to her injuries and her autopsy report read spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue with no mention of rape. Citing it, the police has claimed 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 September 30, allegedly without the family's consent, which has been refuted by the police. 

Police has filed two FIRs against Congress leader Shyoraj Jivan for his plot to trigger caste riots, 14 FIRs and 6 cases across UP alleging criminal conspiracy to incite violence via the incident - arresting four PFI members and a journalist.  The government has also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court demanding an SC-monitored CBI probe while contending that 'no sexual assault occurred'. Five police officers including the district's Police Superintendent (SP) Vikrant Vir have been suspended for the 'midnight funeral' and the family has been offered an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakhs, govt job to one family member and a house.