Priyanka Gandhi Hails CBI Chargesheet in Hathras Case, Says Truth Has Prevailed
Hitting out at the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary for Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hailed the CBI chargesheet in the Hathras case and said that despite the government’s efforts to protect injustice, truth has finally prevailed.
“On one side, there was government protected injustice. The family, on the other hand, was hopeful of justice. The victim’s body was burnt forcibly. There were attempts to discredit the victim. The family was threatened. But eventually Satya triumphed. Satyameva Jayate #HathrasCase,” Priyanka said in her tweet on Friday evening.
The Congress leader’s response came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its chargesheet against all the four accused in the Hathras gang rape and murder case. In its chargesheet filed on Friday, the CBI invoked sections under the SC/ST Atrocities Act besides invoking charges under Section 376D pertaining to rape, Section 302 pertaining to murder; and Sections 354 and 376A, against the accused.
All the four accused have been named in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in a Special SC-ST court, said lawyer Munna Singh Pundhir, who is representing them. The UP Police had earlier alleged that the victim was not raped.
The victim, a 19-year-old Dalit girl, was allegedly raped and murdered by four men belonging to the upper caste in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district on September 14. She died on September 29 at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital during treatment and was cremated in the dead of the night near her home on September 30.
Her family alleged that they were forced by the local police to hurriedly conduct her last rites. Local police officers, however, said the cremation was carried out ‘as per the wishes of the family’.
The UP government faced a lot of flak for the case which was later transferred to the CBI. The CBI constituted a team to probe the incident and handed over the probe to its Ghaziabad unit. The team has already recorded statements of family members of the victim.
