SIT Formed to Probe Hathras Horror After Cops Cremate Victim's Body, to Give Report in 7 Days

Hours after the Uttar Pradesh police cremated the 19-year-old gang-rape and murder victim, allegedly while her family members were locked up in their homes, the state government has formed a three-member SIT to investigate the matter.

The team led by the Home Secretary Bhagwan Swaroop along with DIG Chandra Prakash and IPS officer Poonam will submit the first report in the case within seven days. Amid nationwide outrage, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also asked the trial to be conducted in a fast-track court.

The disturbing sequence of events captured last night showed the bereaved family of the victim begging to take the body home, while the relatives were seen throwing themselves on the hood of the ambulance carrying the body. The woman died in the national capital’s Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday morning after suffering multiple fractures, paralysis and a gash in her tongue.

While the protests were being staged outside the Safdarjung Hospital demanding justice for the victim, the woman’s brother told the media that his sister’s body had been whisked away by the UP police without their knowledge. Her father and brothers sat in protest but they were taken away by the policemen in a black car with UP plates, NDTV reported.

The body was then taken to her village in Hathras, about 200 km from Delhi, after midnight. The family members alleged that the UP police wanted to complete the last rites right in the middle of the night and they insisted that this was “against their tradition”. Paying no heed to the family’s demand for cremating her in the morning, the policemen cremated the woman at around 2:30 am, while most of the family members were at home.

However, all four attackers, upper-caste men from the woman’s village are currently lodged in jail and will now also be charged with murder.