UP govt under fire over Hathras gang-rape and murder case

Lucknow/Jewar: Raising questions over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday demanded that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath be replaced or the president's rule imposed in the state.

Referring to deaths of two women in Hathras and Balrampur regions of the state, she said the incidents are reminiscent of the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder in Delhi.

"In the wake of the law and order situation in the state and a flood of crimes against women, the Union government should replace Yogi Adityanath with some 'kaabil' (capable) person and if this is not possible, the president's rule should be imposed in the state," Mayawati said. "I want to say to Yogi Adityanath that you are born from the womb of a woman. You should consider sisters and daughters of others as your own. If you are unable to protect them, you should resign, she asserted.

A 22-year-old Dalit woman had died in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district on Tuesday after allegedly being raped by two men. She succumbing to her injuries on the day the Hathras woman died in a Delhi hospital, two weeks after she was allegedly gangraped.

Both were cremated on Wednesday.

Mayawati said the Yogi Adityanath government was not waking up despite continuous atrocities against women in the state.

"I want to tell the government that it would be better if Yogi Adityanath sits at his original place in Gorakhpur Math. If he does not like the Gorakhpur Math, he should be handed over the task of constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya," she said.

"In place of him (Adityanath), make a 'kaabil' (capable) man the chief minister who can give good law and order to people," she said.

"If the BJP high command cannot do this, then they should have a little mercy on the people of UP and improve the law and order situation by imposing the president's rule in the state," she added.

Reacting to the BSP leader's statement, state government spokesperson and Cabinet Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, "Mayawati ji you become the leader of Scheduled Castes but you forgot that during your tenure a thousand Dalits were killed; and today you are giving us a lecture."

He said, "If you raise one finger at us, two will rise against you. This is your political journey. This is your approach and this is the principle."

Earlier in the day, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said her party will continue to fight till women's safety is ensured in Uttar Pradesh and unless the government is shaken and woken up, it will not do anything on this front.

Talking to reporters while walking on the Yamuna Expressway towards Hathras, she said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would have to take the responsibility for the alleged gangrape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in the district and strict action should be taken against the perpetrators of the crime.

The victim died in a Delhi hospital on Tuesday.

"Since our cars have been stopped, we will walk down to Hathras as we want to meet the victim's family. We want to express our condolences to the family," Priyanka Gandhi said.

"He (Adityanath) would have to do something for women's safety. We will continue to fight till the time he does something. The women in the entire state will fight as they realise that they are not safe and secure. Everyday such incidents are happening. Eleven rape cases are registered in Uttar Pradesh everyday.

"Such cases are rising and the government is not doing anything. Unless we shake the government or wake them up, they will not do anything for women's safety," she added.

The Congress general secretary recalled that around the same time last year, her party was protesting for the Unnao rape victim.

Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh for "not allowing the family to cremate the victim's body with honour", she said, "You claim to be the protectors of the Hindu religion, we are Hindus, but where has it been written that you cannot allow a father to lit the pyre of his daughter and not allow the family to cremate the victim?

"The incident was a big injustice. What the state government did after that was a bigger injustice."

Priyanka Gandhi, along with Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders and workers, started walking towards Hathras after their cars were stopped by the Uttar Pradesh police near the Pari Chowk on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that Hathras-like incidents will not be tolerated in the state and those indulging in crime against women would be dealt with severely.

"When incidents like the one happened in UP occur, we usually discuss it for a while and then forget. But in Maharashtra, such incidents will not be allowed to happen," he said.

"Hathras-like incidents will never be tolerated in Maharashtra. For that matter, any kind of crime against women, including harassment and eve-teasing, would be dealt with severely," the chief minister said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday hit out at a section of the opposition and media for misleading the public by comparing an incident in Baran district of the state to the gruesome gang-rape of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras.

According to police, two minor sisters went missing from their home in Baran district on September 19. They were later found in Kota on September 22.

The girls were handed over to their families after recording their statements, police said, adding that medical examination of the girls did not confirm rape.

"The incident in Hathras is highly condemnable. But, unfortunately the incident in Baran district of Rajasthan is being compared to the incident in Hathras. Girls in (the Baran case) have given their statement before the magistrate that they had gone with the boys on their own," Gehlot said in a tweet in Hindi.

Meanwhile, Hathras District Magistrate Praveen Kumar said that Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been imposed in the district and no unlawful assembly of people will be allowed.

The entry of journalists in the village was prohibited reportedly after some police personnel were found with Covid-19 symptoms.

"We have asked these cops to get themselves tested and if they test positive, the village might be declared a containment zone. Thus, entry of outsiders, including media, has been stopped on apprehension of Covid-19," the Hathras DM said.