Hathras Rape: Why Did the Cops Cremate the Victim’s Body Forcibly?

Hathras Rape: The body of the 19-year-old Dalit woman who was raped and murdered, allegedly by four upper-caste men in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, was alleged to be ‘forcibly cremated’ by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the wee hours on Wednesday, 30 September.

While Hathras rape victim’s body reached her village in Hathras in an ambulance, the victim’s family stated that the police had forcibly taken her body and performed last rites, even when they wanted to bring her home “one last time.”

“It appears that my sister has been cremated; the police are not telling us anything. We begged them to let us bring her body inside the house one last time, but they didn’t listen to us,” the victim’s brother told The Indian Express.

Videos on social media relating to this Hathras Rape case showed the victim’s mother pleading with police officials to let her take the body home.

ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE – Right behind me is the body of #HathrasCase victim burning. Police barricaded the family inside their home and burnt the body without letting anybody know. When we questioned the police, this is what they did. pic.twitter.com/0VgfQGjjfb

— Tanushree Pandey (@TanushreePande) September 29, 2020

The Hathras Police, at 2:16 Am, tweeted that the cremation will be done “as per the wishes of the family.” Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikrant Veer denied any “urgency” by police in cremation to news agency PTI.

Prem Prakash Meena, the Joint Magistrate of Hathras said that The last rites of the Hathras rape victim have been performed he also stated that the Police and administration will ensure that the guilty are brought to justice.”

The 19-year-old passed away at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital on Tuesday, 29 September. She was battling for life, first in Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh and later in Delhi, for almost two weeks.

She was allegedly raped by four men on 14 September, while she was working in the fields.