Hathras Family To Appear Before High Court Monday, Cops Assure Security

Family members of the 20-year-old Dalit woman who died after allegedly being raped by four so-called "upper caste" men in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district will appear before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court amid tight security on Monday.

The new police chief of Hathras Vineet Jaiswal on Saturday told news agency PTI that the district judge of Hathras has been appointed as the nodal officer for the appearance of the Hathras victim's family member before the high court.

The police and district administration are working on an elaborate plan to work out how many family members will go and when they will depart from Hathras, the Superintendent of Police said.

"The Hathras Police will be responsible for their security and a detailed plan is being made," Mr Jaiswal said.

Sixty security personnel have been posted and eight close circuit television or CCTV cameras installed at the house of the woman to ensure the safety of her family members, according to the police.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Shalabh Mathur, who has been sent to Hathras from Lucknow on special assignment, had told PTI on Friday that if needed a control room would also be established there.

With the help of CCTV cameras, the house of the victim was being monitored round-the-clock, the police said.

The Hathras police chief said a register of visitors was being maintained by policemen at the entry of the house.

"Shocked" by the alleged gang rape and murder of the 20-year-old woman and her forcible cremation by the police subsequently, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on October 1 had summoned top government officials to the court.

A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh had ordered the Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary, state police chief and an additional director general of police to appear before it on October 12 to explain the incident.

Taking up the case, which has triggered widespread outrage, the bench also ordered Hathras district magistrate and superintendent of police to appear to brief the court, including the ongoing probe into it.

"The incidents which took place after the death of the victim on September 29, 2020, leading up to her cremation, as alleged, have shocked our conscience. Therefore, we are taking suo moto cognizance of the same," the court had said in its order.

The court had also asked the woman's parents to come to the court to brief it of their versions of the incident and ordered the Hathras district administration to arrange for their travel to the court and facilitate their appearance before it.

(With inputs from PTI)