CBI Takes Over Hathras Case Probe From UP Police

A week after Uttar Pradesh government recommended CBI probe into the Hathras case relating to the alleged gangrape and murder of a 19-year old Dalit woman, the Central Government on Saturday issued a notification for the investigation in the case by the central agency.

A petition is pending in the Supreme Court seeking court-monitored CBI probe. The UP Government told the Court that it has no objection to the CBI probe and requested that CBI be also asked to investigate the "criminal conspiracy" behind the alleged propaganda against the state using the case.

The UP Government has registered FIRs for sedition, criminal conspiracy etc alleging that there was an attempt to promote enmity between caste groups and incite riots by propagating false news about the case. One Kerala-based journalist and three others have been arrested by UP Police while they were proceeding to Hathras to report.

The UP Police has denied the angle of rape in the case by citing a forensic report which showed the absence of sperm samples in the victim's body.

The woman, belonging to Valmiki community, was allegedly gang-raped and strangulated by four upper-caste men on September 14. She was initially given treatment at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital, Aligarh. When her health started deteriorating, she was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, where she breathed her last on September 29.

The police cremated her body in the middle of the night, allegedly ignoring the protests of her family members. The UP Government told the Supreme Court that the midnight cremation was done to avert law and order issues as several groups were mobilizing protesters at the village to incite riots.