[Hathras gang-rape] Conspiracy to defame Govt, have requested CBI to take over probe to obviate fake narratives: UP Govt to Supreme Court

The Uttar Pradesh government has defended its conduct in the Hathras gang-rape case through an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court.

It has asserted that the aspersions cast on the government over the case are part of an insidious political conspiracy and vicious propaganda by social, electronic and print media to defame and discredit it, despite a "diligent investigation."

To ensure that no vested interest can hinder the impartial investigation of the case, the State of Uttar Pradesh also highlights that it has now requested the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe in the case.

Among other pertinent submissions, the state government has also submitted that the pre-dawn cremation of the victim was justified to prevent a likely law and order situation.

It is stated that the government had received intelligence reports on September 29, when the victim died, that efforts would be made to give the case a caste/communal colour which may spill over into a law and order situation. It is also added that the family of the victim agreed to attend the cremation to avoid further violence.

Highlights of the submissions made by the State of Uttar Pradesh in its affidavit include:

• A diligent investigation is being conducted. False narratives at the behest of some vested interests are gaining momentum.

• With a view to ensure that the investigation continues to remain fair, impartial and neutral, the state government has constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by a Home Secretary rank officer with a lady officer and an officer from the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police.

• An investigation by a Central Agency, which is not within the administrative control of the State administration, will obviate the hindrance being created by certain vested interests in the fair and impartial investigation. Therefore, the state government has already requested the Central government to take over the investigation through the CBI. This will ensure that no vested interests will be able to create a fake and false narrative with oblique motives

• Social media and certain sections of the print and electronic media and political parties are making deliberate and planned attempts to incite caste or communal riots in the State using the recent events.

• It clearly points towards a conspiracy by rival political parties to defame and discredit the Uttar Pradesh government. The proxy political wars include the prorogation of fake news through “sheer copy paste content”. It is an obvious attempt to tarnish the image of the Government of Uttar Pradesh through propaganda.

• In this backdrop, it is important that the investigation be held by a Central agency. The State has already requested that the investigation be taken over by the CBI to ensure that no vested interest will be able to create a fake and false narrative with oblique motives.

Submissions on the events leading up to the cremation of the victim:

• The first complaint: The Police immediately registered the crime which was was reported on September 14. A handwritten note was given by the victim’s brother stating that there was an attempt to strangulate her sister. It is further stated that the complainants had told the police that the assault resulted from personal enmity between families. The victim's mother also mentioned that the offence was committed by a person from the Thakur caste, while the victim was from the Dalit community. An FIR for an attempt to murder and a provision of the SC/ST Act was registered in FIR no. 136 of 2020.

• First medical exam: After the victim was taken to a hospital, the medical exam found critical neck injuries. No medicolegal case (MLC) record was prepared. The victim was urgently referred to Aligarh JM Medical College, a transfer for which the victim’s father gave written consent. At Aligarh, the doctor found that there was a displaced fracture behind the neck. The victim remained in Aligarh’s ICU for 15 days after the parents refused to give consent to shift the girl to a spinal injury specialist hospital.

• First Section 161, CrPC statement by victim to the police: On September 19, the victim’s statement under Section 161, CrPC was recorded by the police, during which the victim stated that one, Sandeep had molested her and tried to kill her by strangulating her. On the basis on this statement, the police added Section 354, IPC

• Arrest of the first accused: The named accused, Sandeep was arrested on September 20 on charges of attempt to murder and molestation and charges under the SC/ST Act

• Victim's revised statement: The victim gave a revised statement on September 22, when she said, “for the first time” that others - Ramu, Luvkush and Ravi, apart from Sandeep, had raped her before Sandeep strangulated her with a dupatta. Section 376D was added to the FIR and the three others named were also arrested. Section 354, IPC was deleted from the array of offences.

• Sexual assault forensic exam says "no rape": A sexual assault forensic exam was conducted in view of the victim's allegation of gang rape. However, “no abrasions, contusions, lacerations or swelling was found” and “there was no prima facie findings of rape.”

• Victim dies at Safdarjung Hospital: After obtaining parental consent, the victim was taken to Safdarjung Hospital. The MLC records neck injuries sustained by the victim. It is stated that there was no active injury present in the nose, ear, mouth or anywhere else. The victim died on September 29 at 6.55 am.

• Post-mortem on September 29: As soon as post mortem of deceased was started at about 10.15 am, a large number of persons including politicians, reached the hospital with their supporters. The protestors begins sloganeering. A large number of media personnel also arrived, apart from the activists on scene. The victim’s post mortem conducted on September 29 morning revealed that the cause of death was indirect blunt trauma injuries to the cervical spine (neck). The cause of death was not due to strangulation, it is stated.

• Large crowds gather: There was resistance to the police escort for the ambulance carrying the victim’s body, particularly from Chandrashekar Azad of the Bhim army and his supporters, it is stated. The body reached the victim’s village of Hathras around 12.45 am, around midnight. 200-250 people had already gathered. They blocked the ambulance and started sloganeering against the victim’s cremation. The victim’s body was with the family until 2.30 am.

• Intelligence reports of likely law and order situation: Intelligence reports were being received since September 29 that the case was being exploited and given caste or communal colour and that the sloganeering gathering was likely to turn violent leading to major law and order problems. The district was on high alert also due to the likely pronouncement of the Babri Masjid demolition case verdict. In this backdrop, and also given the pandemic situation, “the district administration took the decision to convince the parents of the deceased to cremate her with all religious rites at night to avoid large scale violence in the morning to cremate the body of the victim which was lying for almost 20 hours after her death and post-mortem.”

• Pre-dawn cremation during early hours of September 30: Due to extraordinary circumstances and a sequence of unlawful incidents, the District Administration was forced take the extraordinary step of cremating the victim in the night in the presence of her family who agreed to attend to avoid further violence.

Following the cremation, an SIT involving high-ranking officers was constituted, looking at the sensitivity of the case and to ensure the truth is unearthed. Further, murder has also been added as a charge to the FIR registered over the incident.

In its affidavit, the State has urged the Supreme Court to keep the PIL filed on the matter pending while allowing the CBI to probe the case under the supervision of the Supreme Court and in a time-bound manner.