Supreme Court to hear plea seeking court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into Hathras gang-rape case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Tuesday (October 9, 2020) hear a PIL seeking a CBI probe or SIT investigation under a sitting or former Supreme Court or a High Court judge in the gruesome gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh`s Hathras district recently.

According to reports, a bench, headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, will take up the PIL filed by social activist Satyama Dubey and advocates Vishal Thakre and Rudra Pratap Yadav.

The petitioners have urged the apex court to pass appropriate orders for a fair investigation - either by the CBI or the SIT under a sitting or retired Supreme Court or High Court judge - and transfer the case to Delhi.

The plea alleges that the Uttar Pradesh authorities had failed to take proper actions against the accused persons in the case.

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The plea said the victim was first raped and then brutally assaulted when she was in the field to collect fodder for her cattle, and according to a medical report, her tongue was chopped and her neck bone and backbone was also broken by the accused, who belonged to the upper caste.

The victim subsequently succumbed to her injuries at Safdarjung hospital in Delhi.

They also noted that the police had hurriedly cremated the body, and had maintained that the cremation was being carried out as per the wishes of the family, "which is not true" as police personnel themselves lit fire to the pyre, while even media persons had also been banned as per information received.

The plea claimed the police have not performed their duties towards the victim, and were, instead, trying to shield the accused persons. "Because no arrest was made in this matter, the accused persons are moving freely and they have no fear at all... the family of the victim has been victimised by the upper caste persons and no action has been done by the authorities/police officials," the plea said.

Meanwhile, the state’s Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath had on Monday said that his opponents were conspiring to spark caste and communal riots in Uttar Pradesh for political gains. Yogi alleged that a conspiracy was made to trigger caste and communal riots through international funding. 

The Chief Minister said "For last one week, opposition parties were keen to see riots. We need to move forward amidst all these conspiracies," adding "Anti-social and anti-national elements find it difficult to accept the state's development as they always wanted a riot-stricken Uttar Pradesh. So they are hatching conspiracies now." 

CM Yogi Adityanath cautioned BJP workers of “conspiracies” against his government and asked them to “expose those who want to incite caste and communal riots” in the state while attending a review meeting for upcoming byelections in seven Assembly seats.