Hathras: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is a "coward, not a Thakur", AAP MP Sanjay Singh tweeted today after he was attacked with ink in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, where the alleged gang rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit woman has raised a political storm. The incident took place after the lawmakers met the family of the victim.
"Cowardly act in Hathras. Police took us to 'Gudiya's' house and while returning, we were attacked. MLA Rakhi Birla, Ajay Dutt, and Faisal Lala were with me. Yogi Ji, you are not Thakur (caste), you are a coward. File cases against me, baton charge, get me murdered but the fight for justice will go on," Mr Singh later said in a tweet in Hindi.
Mr Singh and Ms Birla were talking to journalists outside the victim's village when the man, identified as Deepak Sharma, threw ink on them and shouted slogans. The stunned Rajya Sabha MP is seen flinching away in video.
The attacker was tackled by the AAP supporters present at the spot and was handed over to the police present there.
An AAP supporter slammed the police for not being able to stop the attack despite heavy deployment. "Police are giving a free hand to such people," he said on camera.
The woman had been assaulted allegedly by four men from the so-called upper caste community from her village on September 14. She was found by her family in the fields, allegedly naked, bleeding, with multiple fractures and a gash in her tongue. She died of her injuries last month.
Yogi Adityanath's government has been facing huge criticism over the police's handling of the case. The police were also slammed on social media for shifting the body from a Delhi hospital and performing her funeral at 2 am without the family's presence.
The UP police had claimed last week that the forensic report of the woman's viscera had established that she was not raped. "The post-mortem report says the victim died due to her neck injury. FSL report hasn't found sperm in samples, making it clear that some people twisted the matter to stir caste-based tension. Such people will be identified and legal action will be taken," Prashant Kumar, a senior UP police officer, had said.
The report of the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) in Agra also backed the UP police's claim. Experts, however, have pointed out loopholes in their procedures that led to the conclusion that she wasn't sexually assaulted.
The opposition has alleged that the family of the woman has been under pressure from the administration.
Politicians from several parties, including senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have met the family of the victim in the last two weeks after facing resistance from the local administration.