The district administration in Hathras has imposed Section 144 in the area and has banned the entry of all ‘outsiders’ including media persons.
Clarion India
LUCKNOW — Police imposed emergency laws on Thursday in the Boolgarhi village and Hathras region, where the 19-year-old Dalit girl was gang-raped and died later, barring gatherings of more than five people after clashes erupted following her cremation.
The district administration in Hathras has imposed Section 144 in the area and has banned the entry of all ‘outsiders’ including media persons, reports IANS.
Acording to District Magistrate Praveen Lakshkar the Special Investigation Team (SIT) , set up to probe the incident, had reached the village and was interacting with the family and other people to record their statements.
“They do not want any disturbance and hence, all entry of outsiders has been stopped,” he said, according to report.
The 19-year-old Dalit girl died in Delhi hospital from her injuries on Tuesday, having been attacked and gang-raped on September 14 in a field near her home in Hathras district, 100 km (62 miles) from Delhi where she had gone to collect cattle fodder.
Police, however, have arrested four men in connection with the crime.
Clashes between protesters and police erupted in the district in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday after police cremated the woman’s body.
The victim’s brother told Reuters the cremation was carried out against the wishes of her family, who had wanted to perform their own funeral rites. Local officials deny this.
The cremation in the forced absence of her parents has triggered a nationwide outrage with people demanding resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath even as his government has constituted a special investigation team to probe the heinous crime.
Twenty-five people were arrested in connection with the unrest, according to a police information report. An eye-witness told Reuters police had wielded batons during the clashes.
India is the one of the world’s most dangerous countries for women, with a rape occurring every 15 minutes, according to federal data – figures that rights groups say vastly underestimate the scale of the problem, reports Reuters.
Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, with Yogi Adityanath as its CM, ranks as one of the most unsafe states for women in the country.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra plan to visit Hathras in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday to meet the family of the Dalit woman wo died after gang rape by upper caste people.
Party sources said the permission for the visit has been sought from the Uttar Pradesh government, and they will leave for Hathras on Thursday. Many leaders of the Congress are going to accompany them, reports IANS.
Under the emergency laws, police will stop members of political organisations from entering Hathras, said a senior Police oficial.
(With media inputs)