Hathras rape case: Rahul Gandhi has said that he wants to meet the family to share their pain.
It is the Uttar Pradesh government's responsibility to protect the family of the alleged gang rape victim, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after meeting with the family in Hathras. Mr Gandhi, along with party general secretary and sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, spoke with the family of the 20-year-old Dalit woman who died in Delhi after allegedly being gang raped and tortured in Hathras. The woman's body was then cremated in the dead of night by the police in a secretive ceremony.
"Wherever something wrong happens, we will be there to ensure justice is served. No one can stop us," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.
Congress leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury KC Venugopal also accompanied Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Hathras.
The Uttar Pradesh government had previously insisted that large gatherings - such as those of the Congress delegation - were not allowed in line with Covid management guidelines. These orders prohibit people from travelling in groups of more than five.
This was the Congress leaders' second attempt to reach Hathras - the first, on Thursday, ended in a tussle with cops who refused to let Mr Gandhi pass, citing orders banning large gatherings amid coronavirus concerns, and shoved him to the ground in the chaos that followed.
Here are the Highlights on Hathras case:
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chhattisgarh Congress to hold silent protest on Monday over Hathras horrorThe Chhattisgarh Congress will hold a silent protest on Monday against the Hathras incident
in Uttar Pradesh, party leaders said.
A Dalit teen was allegedly raped at a village in Hathras by four men on September 14. After her condition deteriorated, she was referred to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital where she breathed her last on Tuesday.
A ''maun satyagraha'' will be held in all 28 districts of the state to demand justice for the victim and to protest against the inhumanity displayed by the Uttar Pradesh government and the police there, said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, head of the Chhattisgarh Congress media wing.
We did not demand CBI inquiry in the case as SIT investigation is already underway: Hathras victim's brother
We did not demand CBI inquiry in the case as SIT investigation is already underway, said the brother of the victim of Hathras case on CBI probe ordered by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
"We will continue this fight": Priyanka Gandhi after meeting Hathras victim's family
"The family couldn't see their daughter for the one last time. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should understand his responsibility. Till the time justice is delivered, we'll continue this fight," said Congress's Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after meeting family of the alleged gang rape victim in Hathras.
Local administration took decision to cremate Hathras victim''s body: UP Official
The decision to cremate the 19-year-old Hathras victim who died on Tuesday, a fortnight after she was allegedly gang-raped by four men, was taken by the local administration, said Uttar Pradesh DGP HC Awasthy on Saturday.
Awasthy was commenting on the allegations that Uttar Pradesh Police forcibly cremated the victim without the consent of her family.
"I can't comment on it. The decision was taken at the local administration level," DGP HC Awasthy told ANI.
Earlier in the day, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avnish Awasthi and DGP HC Awasthy met the family of victim.
CBI to probe Hathras Case: UP Chief MinisterThe alleged rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras will be investigated by the CBI, the Yogi Adityanath government said this evening.
The order to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation came on a day when Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi visited the family of the victim in the village 200 km from Delhi.
"Chief Minister @myogiadityanath Ji has ordered the CBI to conduct a probe into the entire Hathras case," the UP Chief Minister's office tweeted.
"UP Government's Responsibility To Protect Victim's Family": Rahul Gandhi
"UP Government's Responsibility To Protect Victim's Family. Wherever something wrong happens, we will be there to ensure justice is served. No one can stop us," said Rahul Gandhi after meeting the Hathras victim's family.
"This Is Not New For UP": Congress Leader Ghulam Nabi Azad On Hathras IncidentHitting out at the Uttar Pradesh government over the Hathras incident senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday said that it is nothing new as far as the state is concerned.
"Is there a system in UP? Since this government came to power there have been many cases. Earlier, there were cases of lynching, killing of opposition leaders and filing cases against them. This is not new, but routine in UP," Congress leader Azad told media.
"The police is just a part, and the mentality of the leader is responsible for this," he said.
Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Home Department Awanish K Awasthi and the state's Director General of Police HC Awasthy met the family of the alleged gangrape victim in Hathras today.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra interacts with the family members of the Hathras victim
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka travel to Hathras, meet victim's familyCongress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday met the family of the Dalit woman who died this week after she was allegedly gang-raped, triggering nationwide outrage.
Uttar Pradesh authorities had scuttled an earlier attempt by the two leaders to travel to Hathras, detaining them and several party workers in Greater Noida outside Delhi.
On Saturday, the party staged another show of strength at the Delhi-Noida border. The UP Police said they will allow five party representatives to meet the family in the village in Hathras district.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrive at the residence of Hathras victim
Priyanka, Rahul Gandhi Expected To Reach Hathras SoonCongress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi are expected to reach Hathras in Uttar Pradesh anytime now.
The leaders have been trying to travel to Hathras to speak to the family of the 20-year-old Dalit woman who was gang raped and murdered, and whose body was then cremated in the dead of night by the police in a secretive ceremony.
Case against Samajwadi Party workers for protesting against Hathras incident: Police
Samajwadi Party workers, including its youth wing vice president Gaurav Jain and district media in-charge Sajid Hasan, were booked for violation of prohibitory orders in Civil Lines area here, police said on Saturday.
They demonstrated and burned an effigy representing the Uttar Pradesh government in protest against the death of a Dalit woman from Hathras on Friday evening, SHO D K Tyagi said.
The 20-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped at a village in Hathras by four men on September 14. After her condition deteriorated, she was referred to the Delhi's Safdarjung hospital where she breathed her last on Tuesday.
SIT will look into all issues raised by victim's family members: UP official
The SIT will look into all issues raised by the family of the 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras, and the strictest action will be taken against the culprits, Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Awasthi, said on Saturday after meeting the victim's family.
A decision has also been taken for providing security permanently in the village, the senior officer, who along with DGP H C Awasthy rushed to meet the victim's family on the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, said.
He said orders for the suspension of police personnel, including the Superintendent of Police and the Circle Officer of the area, were issued on Friday within two hours of receiving the first report from the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Shields Congress Workers During Lathi ChargeCongress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was shoved and manhandled today afternoon while trying to protect a party worker amid the chaos that followed a lathi-charge by Uttar Pradesh cops at the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) Flyover.
In visuals of the confusion at the Delhi-UP border, Mrs Gandhi Vadra - in a dark blue kurta and wearing a face mask - can be seen hopping a small yellow barricade and rushing to shield a man in a white kurta as cops with raised lathis surround her and a horde of reporters cover the ruckus.
"Dictatorship going on in the country": Mamata Banerjee over Hathras caseWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre for running a "dictatorship" in the country and said the saffron party is a "pandemic" which is torturing dalits the most.
Ms Banerjee, who held a protest march against the Hathras gang rape case, said she will stand by the Dalit community till the end as her caste is "humanity" and she does not believe in differentiation on the grounds of caste and religion.
The march, the first by the fiesty TMC supremo since March when the nationwide lockdown was declared to break the coronavirus infection chain, covered the 2-km distance between Birla Planetarium to Gandhi statue on Mayo Road.
Don't do politics on Dalit atrocities: Union Minister on Hathras case
Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said there should not be any politics in the name of atrocities on Dalits which he claimed to have been going on during successive governments in Uttar Pradesh.
"What has happened in Hathras is most terrible. The incident of rape on a Dalit girl is a very serious issue," he said.
Mr Athawale, who said he will be meeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, stated, "On the Hathras case, I have to say that there should not be politics in the name of atrocities on Dalits. It is not right to propagate about atrocities on Dalits during Yogi government."
"It is right that atrocities are taking place but it had been so during the Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Akhilesh (Yadav) governments also," he added.
Mamata Banerjee Marches Against Hathras Horror In KolkataWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is leading a protest march against what has come to be known as the Hathras horror - the alleged rape and fatal assault of a 20-year-old Dalit woman, and her 2:30AM cremation by Uttar Pradesh Police without the family's consent or presence leading to nationwide outrage.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee started walking from Kolkata's Birla Planetarium to the Gandhi Statue and Central Kolkata - a distance of about 3km - from 4PM.
This is the first time in six months, since the COVID-19 outbreak in India, that the TMC supremo has hit the streets.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra cross Delhi-Noida flyway
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Delhi-Noida flyway
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Allowed To Go To Hathras To Meet Victim's Family
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and three others have been allowed to travel to Hathras and meet the family of the 20-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang raped and murdered last month, in a savage crime that shocked the nation.
Rahul Gandhi-Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Delhi-Noida flyway
Just in: Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, en route UP's Hathras, stopped by policemen at Delhi-Noida border.
This is not new but routine in UP: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad
Is there a system in UP? Since this government came into power there have been many cases. Earlier, there were cases of lynching, killing of opposition leaders and filing cases against them. This is not new but routine in UP: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad
(Source: ANI)
"If not this time, then we will try again," Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was quoted as saying by ANI just before she left to meet the family with Rahul Gandhi.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are trying to make a second attempt to reach Hathras in Uttar Pradesh. No vehicles from Delhi are allowed into UP through DND flyover, which connect Noida in UP with the national capital.
"It is our right to meet family of the victim," Congress leader Anand Sharma
"It is our right to meet family of the victim, who were denied dignity. The manner in which the government have behaved is highly condemnable," Congress leader Anand Sharma tells NDTV.
"Girl's family is being threatened. They will try and stop us and we will see what they will do. You can't expect any civilised behaviour from UP police. It's important that we continue to raise our voice. The girl was brutally raped and she wasn't even given a proper cremation," he adds.
A video of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on their way to Uttar Pradesh has emerged. Priyanka Gandhi is seen driving the car.
UP top cop in Hathras amid row over handling of alleged rape-murder
The Director-General of Uttar Pradesh Police, HC Awasthy, is in Hathras today amid controversy over the local administration's handling of the alleged gang rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit woman, by four men from the so-called upper caste, last month. HC Awasthy, the UP DGP, is accompanied by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi. (Read full story
here)
"No restrictions on family, no phones confiscated": Joint Magistrate Hathras Prem Prakash Meena
Joint Magistrate Hathras Prem Prakash Meena had dismissed allegations by the victim's family that they were locked up in their homes and their phones were taken away.
"The allegations by a boy who spoke to some reporters on Friday are baseless. If a child can escape, it shows there were no restrictions on the family. No phones were confiscated," he told NDTV.
UP police set up barricades at Delhi-UP border
UP Police has closed all the lanes at Delhi-UP border; only one lane is open at DND flyover, which connects Delhi with Noida in UP. Police is checking every vehicle, Saurabh Shukla reports.
Hathras Joint Magistrate Prem Prakash Meena has said that Rahul Gandhi would not be allowed to enter the village, access to which has been cut off by the UP government and in which prohibitory orders banning large gatherings is in force.
"Nothing in the world can stop me from going to Hathras to meet this unhappy family to share their pain," Rahul Gandhi tweeted this morning.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make another attempt this afternoon to travel to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh. The delegation of party leaders wants to speak to the family of the young woman.