Hathras protest: Women TMC leaders file complaint against SDM for 'indecent behaviour'

Women Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders have lodged a complaint against a senior Hathras official for allegedly pushing them and behaving indecently when they were going to meet the family of the Hathras rape victim on Friday.

Along with demanding an FIR be lodged, Lok Sabha MP Pratima Mondal and former MP Mamta Thakur urged for action against Hathras Sub-Divisional Magistrate Prem Prakash Meena in the letter written to the Chandpa police station, Hathras.

"We had arrived from Bengal to convey condolences to the victim's family. In a democracy, not letting a representative meet the aggrieved family is a murder of democracy," read the letter, roughly translated in English from Hindi.

The four-member delegation of Trinamool was stopped by UP Police 1.5 km from the victim's home in Hathras, at which point Derek O'Brien was violently pushed to the ground by the UP police. In a video that has been accessed by ANI, Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien is man-handled while appearing to speak on behalf of another person there amid heavy police deployment. He is pushed to the ground and then grappled with till he's ejected from the scene by the police. SDM denies charge of misbehaviour.

Hathras SDM Meena had earlier refuted the TMC delegation's allegations of being roughed up by Uttar Pradesh Police at Hathras border, saying that the allegations are baseless and female constables requested them to stop but they forcibly tried to enter. The TMC delegation, including party MP Derek O'Brien, was on the way to meet the family of the victim of the Hathras incident on Friday.

Denying charge the police they misbehaved, Meena told ANI that female constables stopped the leaders and informed them that no one is allowed inside the village. "They forcefully tried to enter the village. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is investigating the matter (the Hathras incident). No one is allowed inside the borders of the district. As soon as we will get orders, we will allow everyone inside," he had added.

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The victim was allegedly raped in Hathras on September 14 in a field, leaving her in a critical condition. 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. Police have claimed that the Hathras gangrape victim was 'not raped' after the postmortem report stated 'neck injury and trauma' as the cause of death and that no traces of sperm were found in her private parts. 

UP authorities flung into action amid nationwide outcry

Meanwhile, amid national outrage over the Hathras horror, state Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Awasthi on Saturday stated that the 3-member SIT will investigate into all points raised by the victim's family including the alleged gangrape. Assuring strict action against the accused, he said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has suspended five officers, including Hathras SP Vikrant Vir.

Cracking down on negligent police officers, the UP CM suspended five police officers — Hathras Police Superintendent (SP) Vikrant Vir, Commanding officer Ram Shabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub Inspector Jagveer Singh, and Head Constable Mahesh Pal based on the preliminary report submitted by the SIT on Friday — allegedly for the 'midnight funeral'. Moreover, all officers involved in the case will have to undertake narco and polygraph tests, as ordered by the Chief Minister. The 3-member SIT constituted by Adityanath will submit its complete report in 7 days and an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh, a house along with a government job to one family member has been announced.

(With ANI inputs)

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