HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES Bhim Army Sena Chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, with other activists, protests after the death of a 19-year-old girl from Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, at Safdarjung Hospital on September 29, 2020 in New Delhi.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Sunday walked to meet the Hathras family after being stopped near Aligarh on his way to meet them, NDTV reported.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former MLA Rajveer Singh Pahalwan held a mahapanchayat of upper caste men at his residence in Hathras on Sunday morning at which 500 people, including family of the accused gathered, NDTV and Hindustan Times reported.
At the meeting, Pahalwan reportedly claimed “no rape happened” and that the four accused Thakur men who had been arrested in the case were not guilty and had been falsely accused.
The Quint’s Asmita Nandy reported that among those raising slogans in favour of the Thakurs accused in the Hathras case were “members of RSS, Bajrang Dal, Karni Sena who are also part of several ‘Savarna Sangathans’”.
The Hathras family has asserted they wanted judicial inquiry into death and forced cremation of their 19-year-old daughter who was allegedly gang-raped by four Thakur men.
The Yogi Adityanath-led UP government had on Saturday recommended probe into the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
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On Friday, Azad had said there was no hope for justice for woman who died till Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath resigned and the Supreme Court took cognisance of the issue.
Azad was at the protest site in Jantar Mantar to demand justice for the Dalit woman.
“These kind of culprits should be punished as soon as possible so that others get scared before committing such crimes,” he said, addressing the protesters.
“We will go to Hathras and till the time the matter doesn’t come to Delhi, there is no chance of getting justice,” Azad added.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who met the family of the Dalit woman along with Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, demanded removal of the district magistrate and an investigation into his role in the entire matter on Sunday.
Priyanka Gandhi said that according to the family, the district magistrate meted out the worst treatment to them, and asked who was protecting the officer.
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In a tweet in Hindi, the Congress leader said, “According to the aggrieved family, the worst treatment meted out to them was by the district magistrate. Who is trying to save him? He should be immediately suspended, and his role in the entire matter should be probed. When the family is demanding a judicial probe, then why is noise over CBI probe and SIT probe is going on.”
“If the UP government has even slightly woken up from its slumber, it should listen to the point of view of the family,” she said in another tweet.
“Yogi Adityanath has to understand his responsibility. He has to understand that wherever injustice happens, we will fight that and stand with the family,” Priyanka Gandhi told reporters on Saturday. “We will fight against injustice, and fight till justice is done.”
Rahul Gandhi said, “No power on earth” can stop the voice of this family.” Later on Twitter, he said the UP government will not be able to have its way as the entire country has now risen for justice to “this daughter of the nation”.
(With PTI inputs)
