On Monday, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court reprimanded the Uttar Pradesh Police and Additional Director-General Law and Order Prashant Kumar over the cremation of the 19-year-old Dalit girl in the dead of the night, who died after allegedly being gang-raped by four Thakur men in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district last month.
According to Seema Kushwaha, the lawyer of the victim's family, the court asked ADG Law and Order, "If you had a daughter, would you allow the funeral to take place without seeing her body?" "The ADG was speechless and was unable to answer any questions," India Today quoted her as saying.
Kushwaha also said the family had demanded to transfer the case outside Uttar Pradesh and to keep CBI reports confidential. "The victim's family has demanded that reports of CBI be kept confidential. We had also prayed that the case be transferred out of UP. The third demand is that the family be provided security until the case completely concludes," she said.
Meanwhile, according to an IANS report, Hathras district magistrate Parveen Kumar Laxar has owned full responsibility for the decision related to holding the cremation of the 19-year-old victim in the night.
Laxar pleaded that cremation had been done in the dead of the night because they had received intelligence inputs that some vested interests could try to provoke caste violence.
He also said that there was a possibility of the body to decompose if the cremation was delayed further.
He denied that there was any pressure on him from the government or higher officials.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court that held a detailed hearing of the 'forced cremation' of the Hathras victim on Monday, said it would give the detailed order later.
The court has fixed November 2 as the next date of hearing.
