New Delhi:
Backing Rahul Gandhi's claims about alleged police atrocities on Greater Noida villagers, the National Commission for Women (NCW) today demanded a CBI probe into the incidents "as soon as possible".
"I request a CBI inquiry as soon as possible so that evidence is not destroyed," acting NCW chairperson Yasmeen Abrar told reporters in New Delhi.
Abrar said villagers in Bhatta and Parsaul in Greater Noida told an NCW fact-finding team about the alleged police atrocities faced by them.
"Women in these villages were sad and reluctant to talk about anything. But finally in Bhatta, they told us how they were molested and how their men were burnt alive. In Parsaul village, they said how their houses were ransacked and looted," said Abrar.
She also said that there have been allegations of tampering of evidence by the state administration. "I want the Uttar Pradesh government to lodge an FIR against the culprits and ensure free and fair investigation," she added.
The NCW had sent a fact-finding team headed by Abrar to Bhatta and Parsaul villages on May 12 to look into the allegations of police atrocities on women during and after the clashes between farmers and police in the area earlier this month.
Abrar alleged that the local administration initially stopped the NCW team from visiting the villages.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi also backed the NCW's demands for a CBI probe into the alleged police atrocities.
"If the NCW is allowed to carry out a proper probe in Bhatta-Parsaul, then more cases of atrocities and shocking facts will emerge...we want a judicial or CBI probe", Joshi said.
Last week, Rahul Gandhi sneaked past an extensive network of UP policemen into Parsaul-Bhatta early in the morning. He spent the day with farmers before being arrested. Late at night, he was released and escorted back across the UP border. The area has been tense since the police and farmers exchanged fire two weekends ago - four people were killed. Villagers claim that policemen and local administration officials have attacked their homes and families since then.
Rahul had also led a delegation of farmers from these villages to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to complain against "police brutalities".
"74 stacks of hay were set on fire. There were bones in them. Women too were raped," he had said.
But the Uttar Pradesh government later dismissed all the charges as baseless and said preliminary forensic reports of ashes collected from the area ruled out presence of any human remains.
"All allegations, especially on rape, are absolutely baseless. Even the forensics report has clarified that there were no human remains or bones," Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar had said addressing a press conference.
None of the testimonials given to the NCW team, however, spoke of women being raped, as alleged by Rahul Gandhi. The NCW wants a CBI probe into these allegations too.