After the country-wide protests following the horrific gang rape and murder case of a Dalit girl in Hathras, UP, the CBI had been handed over the case to be investigated.
According to a major update on the same, the Central Bureau of Investigation has found that one of the four men accused in the crime is a minor. This also puts light on the lack of proper probing done by the UP police themselves when they were investigating.
The CBI said that the development has come to picture through the boy’s school records, which included his report cards.
When the mother of the accused minor was approached, she said that a team of officers from the CBI had come to their home. They then took along the marks sheet and clothes of her son and claimed that the boy is a minor.
The mother said, “They also took some of my elder son’s clothes along with the mark sheet. He is a minor.”
All the four accused in the case have been held at the Aligarh jail for the alleged gang rape of the girl. After the case was transferred to the CBI officers, they interrogated the four for more than eight hours on Monday.
The recovered mark sheet of the accused proves that he is a minor. This highlights the job executed by the UP police earlier that did not consider determining the age of all the accused while investigating as age plays an important factor in any case.
The incident in question is of the alleged gang rape of a Dalit girl belonging to Hathras of Uttar Pradesh. After committing the crime, the accused strangulated the 19-year-old girl and left her in a seriously injured condition in a farm field of Boolgarhi. When found, she was bearing severe damage in her spine. Even after she recorded her statement with the police and media, no action was being taken against the accused allegedly because they belonged to the upper caste.
The victim passed away after receiving two weeks of treatment at a Delhi hospital. Her body wasn’t handed over to the family and was instead cremated in the bleak hours of the night by the UP police. Video footage recorded by witnesses shows the family begging the officials to let them take their family member’s body and the words falling on the police’s deaf ears.
The inhuman act led to a massive outrage from the entire country that came together to question the actions of UP police and demand justice for the Dalit girl.
The opposition parties heavily criticized the Yogi government over the incident. The case was finally transferred to the CBI after the protests.
