Hours after the dust had settled in the fields and political parties had departed, the family of the Hathras victim decided that they will not immerse the ashes of their daughter unless it is confirmed that it was she, who had been cremated in the dead of the night by the police.
“Humko kya pata ki wohi hamari behen thi. We did not even see her face. I collected the ashes on grounds of humanity because it must have been someone’s body if not my sister’s and I did not want the ashes to be trampled upon,” said that victim’s brother. The cremation took place around 3 a.m. on September 30.
The brother further said that they will not submit to a narco-polygraph test as they are not the ones who are lying.
“They should conduct these truth tests on the accused and the policemen who are trying to twist the narrative,” he said.
It has been six days since the girl, who died after being allegedly assaulted by four upper caste men in her village, was cremated by the police without the presence of the family, according to the victim’s kin.
The cremation spot is a small clearing in the middle of a millet field in the village.
The 19-year-old has two brothers and two sisters.
The family is upset at the fact that no action has yet been taken against District Magistrate Praveen Laxar, who allegedly misbehaved with the family and even threatened them.
“We have complained against the district magistrate to everyone who has visited us but no action has been taken against him,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of “despotic and arrogant” behaviour and asked it to change it in the wake of the flak received for the Hathras gang rape-murder case.
She also condemned as “shameful” the ill-treatment meted out to the media and the lathi-charge on the opposition leaders who supported the 19-year-old victim’s family in the past couple of days.
“A BSP delegation had gone to the victim’s village to meet the family and know the facts of the case on September 28. What report I have received is very painful and forced me to approach the media,” the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister tweeted.
“The government is advised to change its despotic and arrogant behaviour, or else the roots of democracy will be weakened,” the BSP leader added.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had gone to meet the family in Bulgarhi village on Saturday, followed by Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary, Bhim Party chief Chandrashekhar Azad and a Samajwadi Party delegation on Sunday.
