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Friday, October 09, 2020

Hathras gang-rape case: police hasty late-night cremation of Dalit victim - hiding what?

BBC:

Hathras case: A fatal assault, a cremation and no goodbye


IMAGE COPYRIGHTABHISHEK MATHUR/BBCimage caption
The 19-year-old's family are still trying to come to terms with their loss


On the last day of September, India woke up to the disturbing news that authorities had forcibly cremated the body of a 19-year-old Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman who had alleged gang rape and died a day earlier.

The news caused global outrage, leading to accusations that the young woman - who was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men and had fought for her life for two weeks - was treated as shabbily in death as in life.

The police in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh state, where the attack took place, said the family had consented to her cremation.

But her family and local journalists, who were present in the village when her funeral pyre was lit at around 2:30am, have contested the claim in interviews with the BBC.

I travelled to Bhulgarhi village in Hathras district to find out what exactly happened on the night of 29 September.

What emerges is a story of an unequal balance of power between the might of the state and some of its most disadvantaged citizens, officials' disregard for protocol, and their seeming unconcern for a grieving family trying to come to terms with a tragedy.


Where's the body?

"My sister died at 6:55am on Tuesday [29 September] in Delhi's Safdarjung hospital. Around 9am, they asked us to sign some papers so the body could be taken for a post-mortem," says the victim's younger brother.

"That was the last time we saw her body," he adds as we sit chatting on the floor, our backs to the wall in the outer area of his home. The courtyard is overrun with dozens of journalists and politicians of all hues, who are visiting the family one by one to offer condolences.

The victim's brother, his father and two other male relatives had accompanied the victim when she was moved a day before her death to Delhi from the hospital in Aligarh city where she had been treated since 14 September - the day she was attacked.

A few hours after her death, when they went to the forensic department to check when they could collect the body, he says they received conflicting replies from the policemen and officials.

"One said the body had already been released, another said it had reached Noida [a town on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border], yet another said it was in Hathras.

"I asked them how can you take the body without our permission?"



image caption
The victim's sister-in-law says she wants to see the attackers hanged


Soon, their relatives arrived and began a protest outside the hospital, demanding the body be handed over to them. They were joined by activists of the Bhim Army, a party that fights for the rights of Dalits who are at the bottom of the unforgiving Hindu caste hierarchy.

Back in the village, the family had already begun mourning.

"They called in the morning to say she had died," says the victim's sister-in-law. "They were crying on the phone. Everyone began crying here too.

"We asked when will you bring the body home?"


The drive back to the village

At around 9:30pm, the dead teenager's brother says the police forced him into a black SUV along with his father and began driving them back to their village 200km (125 miles) away.

"On the way, our car was stopped and senior police and administration officials came to talk to us. Among them was Hathras district magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar who told us that we would be taken directly to the cremation ground."

He says they had no idea where the body was or what time the ambulance carrying it had left the hospital.

Hathras superintendent of police Vikrant Vir told my BBC Hindi colleague Dilnawaz Pasha last week that the post-mortem was completed by 1pm.



IMAGE COPYRIGHTABHISHEK MATHUR/BBCimage caption
Hundreds of police are still deployed in the village and outside the victim's home


"But for some reason her body couldn't be brought back immediately. It was late night by the time the body arrived in the village. Her father and brother had travelled with the body."

Last Friday, the state government suspended Mr Vir for "negligence and lax supervision". Four other policemen were removed too. Calls have also been growing to remove the district magistrate, Mr Laxkar.


Preparations for funeral

While the family was waiting for the body to arrive, police and administration officials had already begun preparations for a late-night funeral.

"They had brought in a generator, lights were installed, logs and fuel were brought in," the teenager's sister-in-law says.

Journalists present in the village say barricades were erected on the roads leading to the family home and the dirt track that led to a small patch of the field where the funeral was to happen.

A white ambulance carrying the body arrived in the village at around midnight.



IMAGE COPYRIGHTABHISHEK MATHUR / BBCimage caption
The teenager's family say the officials made preparations for a late-night funeral without their consent


"Besides the driver, there was a policeman and a policewoman in the ambulance. There was no family member in it," says the victim's aunt.

"It was parked nearby for an hour. We asked them to let us at least see her face," she tells me, tears streaming down her face.

The black SUV, carrying the victim's bother and father, reached the village at around 1am and was driven straight to the cremation ground.


Attempts to claim the body

"Hindus don't cremate at night," the brother says. "I told them we can't have the cremation without rituals and in the absence of our family. When we went home, we heard that the ambulance carrying her body had already arrived in the village."

Officials followed them home and tried to persuade them to go and light the pyre.

"The women of the family fell at their feet, begging them to hand over the body so they could perform the rituals. But they were unmoved," he says.

Videos shared widely on news TV channels and social media show the dead woman's female relatives making several attempts to claim her body.



image caption
The 19-year-old's aunt consoles her mother who still can't talk about her daughter without dissolving into tears


In one video, her mother is seen weeping with her head on the bonnet of the car. In another, she's sitting on the road in front of the ambulance, wailing and beating her chest.

She's heard repeatedly pleading with officials to hand over the body to her so she could take it home one last time - and perform some rituals.

"We wanted to put turmeric and sandalwood paste on her arms and legs, dress her in new clothes, adorn her with flowers. She wouldn't have seen it, but by doing the rituals we would have been able to say a proper farewell to her," says the teenager's sister-in-law, fighting back tears.

Her aunt shows me bruises on her elbows, "They flung us aside and drove away with the body. Many of us fell down. I fell into a field."


The funeral pyre is lit

Even though the family had refused to cremate the body, the 19-year-old was still consigned to flames that night.

"We didn't want them to take us forcibly and light her pyre so we locked ourselves in," says the young woman's brother. "We had no idea what was happening outside."

Local journalists, who witnessed the cremation from a distance, said the funeral pyre was lit around 2:30am.

The police formed a human chain to keep the villagers and journalists from getting close.

"Why did the police cremate her? Was hers an unclaimed body?" her mother asks. "I carried her in my womb for nine months. Do I not have the right to see her face one last time? Do I not have the right to grieve? Do I not feel pain?"



IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGESimage caption
Protesters burn an effigy of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath


The hasty cremation has caused outrage in India and abroad. Opposition parties have called it "a gross violation of human rights", "illegal" and "immoral". Protests have been held across India and by Indians in several American cities. The UN, too, has weighed in, expressing "profound sadness and concern at the continuing cases of sexual violence against women and girls in India".

On Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that they had cremated the body at night due to "extraordinary circumstances and a sequence of unlawful incidents".

They said there was an "international plot" to cause caste and religious riots in the state and topple the government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, one of India's most controversial right-wing politicians.

They also claimed that the victim's family was present for the cremation and had "agreed to attend to avoid further violence".

Earlier, too, the police in Hathras had shared a video showing three men throwing wood into the pyre as it burned.

But the family told the BBC that those in the video were neighbours and distant relatives and the authorities were trying to pass them off as immediate family.


A pile of ash

Three days later, anti-rape activist Yogita Bhayana visited the family and persuaded a relative of the 19-year-old to visit the site and collect her remains.

"I'm picking them up because in case these are really my sister's remains, they won't be defiled by stray dogs," he told a news channel. "She had to go through a lot of torture while alive. I want to ensure it doesn't happen to her in death."



IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGESimage caption
All that remains of the young woman is ash


A week after her funeral pyre lit up a dark night in Bhulgarhi village, I visited the tiny patch of farmland where the 19-year-old was cremated.

All that remains of the pretty teenager with a shy smile and long dark hair is a rectangular pile of ash.

And her family's hope for justice.

"I want to see all of them hanged," says her sister-in-law. "I am waiting for that day. She used to live with me 24 hours a day. I can't get her face out of my mind."


Related:

High-caste cocks now in jeopardy



22 comments:

  1. Hopefully the girl will come back as a ghost to haunt those who committed the wrongs she endured.

    I pray that she will get the justice she deserves

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  2. india no c4? so backward wanna fight ccp?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Been cheered on by mfers, like u, to be yr alter sacrifice mah!

      Delete
  3. Ketuanan High-caste Hindoo vs Ketuanan Melayoo vs. Ketuanan CCP-Rich and Red

    Most of the objectionable characteristics are just the same.

    The difference is just black vs brown vs yellow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooop… what happened to those white one?

      Those white thrashing objectionable characteristics are just NOT in the same class!

      Censored by yr masters?

      Delete
    2. Asians need to consider carefully how they can correct and improve on their own faults, instead of jumping up and down about the faults of White societies on the other side of the world.

      Delete
    3. Wow!

      What an insightful rebuttal from a well-trained doggie for its master!

      Delete
    4. So u agreed that those white thrashing objectionable characteristics are just NOT in the same class!

      Delete
    5. Every COUNTRY has its problems.

      We criticize the West NOT because Asia is perfect ! Asia is not a Shangri La, but the difference is, Asia do not use propaganda to demonize the West. In fact, Asian propaganda is to eulogize the West into a Utopia.

      That's how we get SO MANY ASIANS who think the West is the epitome of perfection, mouthing 'democracy, human rights, freedom, principles, nobility, integrity, fairness' and all such delusions. These attitudes are testimony to the Asian governments who kowtow and heaped praises for the West DESPITE having suffered at the hands of colonial rule.

      Indians have forgotten what the British have done to them and they are trying damn hard to NOT SEE what American corporations are doing to them now and how the American government in its well-laid calculations, for decades now, to corral India into a game plan to favour the US geo-politically.

      [ https://worldaffairs.blog/2020/06/13/india-as-a-tool-to-contain-china-geopolitics-explained/ ]

      Vietnam was literally Agent Oranged in the 70s - that was only 4 decades ago BUT Vietnam is NOW re-uniting with the country that mass employed a toxic defoliant to to try to annihilate the entire population there.

      China is seen as an existential threat to the current hegemon and lately with Trump in the White House, the rhetoric, lies and spins couldn't be anymore toxic and dangerous.

      Asians, and for that matter, the rest of the 'colored' people too, are still asleep, wandering about the world with exceptionally low self esteem, although it can be said that SOME are showing signs of stirring up, to awaken.

      But it is not just the actual atrocities. It is the cavalier manner of the lives that were taken...this arrogance truly grates. AND these Asians feel so honoured to be used by them.

      Delete
    6. the west is the epitome of perfection, at least to ccp chinese. just see where most of ccp leaders n propagandist that tell how great is ccp model send their children to.

      3 eg, 1)emperor xi daughter go usa, 2)professor jin chanrong that tell how great is china n remarks that usa no ball to start trade war send son to usa 3)hu xijin yr fav global times editor send son canada.

      would u send yr son to a islamic country if u comment the way like how most chinese msian comment abt most thing islam?

      the ccp chinese do exactly that, so how is the west not a perfection to them? ccp hypocrisy is worst than pas, at least many pas leader send their children to middle east country.

      Delete
    7. Batty has, as usual, puts in his 2-cents-worth of inane remarks which has nothing to do with the main gist of the issue; or which actually do shore up the points being made but which to his addled brain, he thinks he was offering countering points ! LOL

      When China was at its zenith of power, when it was the superpower, did not other countries come running to covet the wealth that China had to offer then ? Marco Polo and his father stayed 17 years in China and went back to Italy with untold wealth in gold and knowledge. The Chinese then were the innovators and the pioneers of so many state of art inventions and new medical breakthroughs, even the mundane toothpaste was invented by the Chinese...

      https://www.transcend.org/tms/2019/12/history-of-chinese-inventions-the-present-and-the-future-recent-chinese-state-of-the-art-innovations/

      So when China was invaded by a league of eight nations, suffered wholesale plunders and pillage, reduced to a state of utter poverty; and later had to contend with a world war, thus entering into its 'two centuries of humiliation', resulting with the centre of power shifted to the West, what is so strange that China should pick up the pieces, send their young to the West to make up for lost time ?

      What IS strange is that haters like you just wouldn't, couldn't admit that China has achieved a feat not done before by ANY country within such a short time frame of merely 40 years, managing to lift 800 millions of its people out of poverty, to become the 2nd most powerful economy in the world, and sending droves of their students to be educated in the West is the genius planning of the Chinese government. It would be the height of stupidity if the government were lock in their young and refused to allow them to learn from the centre of power...'ammunition is the ability to learn the language and the accumulated knowledge of your adversary'.

      Of course now, belatedly, when the US realized that the rise of China has 'threatened' their hegemony ( although it need not be the case, but the US is too paranoid by now to be rational ), we see the Trump administration attempting a total decoupling but it is easier said than done.

      It is amusing to see Senator Tom Cotton, in order to placate their education industry which are screaming their heads off, worried about their bottom line, should these Chinese students, who were sent there in the hundreds of thousands EVERY YEAR, were suddenly cut off, this moronic Tom Cotton suggested that the US could still have its cake and eat it...by allowing these Chinese students to come into the US to provide lucrative profits to the education industry, BUT these students should ONLY be allowed to take up English studies, Literature and such 'Humanities' studies, LOLOLOL. STEM subjects would be off limit ! Umm...we know these Senators are a bunch of morons but surely there is a limit to stupidity ? Hehe, it seems not !

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    8. Even prophet Mohammed had said to venture to China to learn, when China was the knowkedge epitome of the world.

      So, go ask yr zombie pals, what's the parallel in seeking knowledge in a land where prime education institutions have matured?

      Xi Mingze enrolled at Harvard University, as a freshman in 2010, after a year of undergraduate study at Zhejiang University. She enrolled under a pseudonym, and maintained a low profile. She graduated with A.B. in 2014 and has since returned to China. As of 2015, she is living in Beijing.

      金君达,graduated BA in 2011 from Peking University. Then moved to John Hawkins & Boston Universities,finishing with MA & PhD.

      Both youths went to US after their mental formation yr. So they knew what they want & do in life - learnt the best & come home to serve.

      Even 鲁迅 went to Japan at the high of the sino-japanese conflict. Did that make 鲁迅 a turncoat?

      Hu xijin has NO son but a daughter, currently working in China!

      Did yr 台毒/公知 dickheads leak this spurious foul gas for u to dissipate?

      Like usual, just absorbed as long as it's China bashing! Western perfection is the alter chant of demoNcratic mfers, like u. Spurious or real, ain't yr concern.

      摸石头过河 - a try&error tweaking process, is what CCP China is adopting to recalibrate their sopo learning processes - sieving off the dirts & retaining the good.

      Sending brilliant students oversea, so that some of them can come back to serve the motherland. Just like 钱三强,钱学森. Even though many chose not to return. Personal choices & personal worldviews that the motherland generously provide & never ask for. Can mfer, like u, see that in yr demoNcratic land?

      "many pas leader send their children to middle east country."

      U better ask yr ketuanan freaks, zombies & blurred feudalistic b40 melayu pals!

      R they thinking of serving the country on earth NOW or selfishly planning for their psychological afterlife ego trip.

      Or those countries offer easier paths to spurious titles that suit future rent-seeking?

      That's real hypocrisy that mfer, like u, can't fathom!

      Delete
    9. most believe marcopolo is a myth, i mean his part abt china, secondly he met kublai khan, a mongolian, but i know ccp fanboy hv this flexibility to tell its not a invation when it suit them.

      1. qian xuesen dad never said china is great while usa is shit. n qian is the first generation ccp thief.

      2. luxun never said japs is shit. xi jin hu say it again n again usa is shit.

      3.hu son in canada is an old news which he deny, but a phoenix reporter recently verify its genuineness, of course he can be slanderous but y ccp media 404 the news n photo?

      4. my point is if america n american is that shitty, y all this ccp red n rich rushing to this shitty land n many even become citizen, could it be ccp cant vote so they vote with their feet but very silently, like snake do?

      Delete
    10. What the tok3tok4tokearthtoksky about marcopolo? Just fart to the point lah. Or that orifice of yrs has a manifold outlet?

      1) & 2) sources?

      Can only find in yr fart filled well printing shop, no?

      3) phoenix source?

      Mfer, in CCP China nobody is transparent, either via state or citizen search.

      Any personal details can be search by blog citizen via social blog media. If Hu has a son in Canada it would be a big news propagating by his rival 公知.

      That news/picture would be all-over the blogs, all-over the world! Yet, fake news aplenty, photo takde. Not even a PS-ed one.

      What CCP media 404?

      Or u meant CCP media controls including YouTube, Facebook, Google, CNN etc etc.

      What a moronic fart.

      So, what so special about yr faked point about shitty America/American?

      Here is a parallel point - u like Formosa so much that u sent yr daughter there to study. Now, why she is revolting against u for sending her to a shit place. Her opinion doesn't matter, right?

      Mfer, she is suffering & facing daily suffocating brain washes that only u like.

      U r going to lose her!

      Wakakakakaka… karma mah!

      98% of those Chinese went overseas r returning w/o fail!

      Voting with their feet?

      If there r CCP rich & red, running to migrate to US - good ridden, I say! Before CCP digging out their shits, SARS-CoV2 would most likely getting them first.

      犬养mfer, that fake news printing shop of yrs must be running 24/7 365 non stop! How many tons of snake oil u buy. Or is it foc from yr China bashing sponsors!

      Delete
    11. CK...you nailed it precisely ! hantam dia kau kau, hehe, until he runs out of snake oil, until his batty otak stops leaking smelly nauseous horrifying toxins that pollute this site.

      Some of your colourful phrases really crack me up, hahahahaha...

      "that orifice of yrs has a manifold outlet"...."Can only find in yr fart filled well printing shop"....Haha, simply hilarious...poor Batty-Bodoh-Sombong ! And to think he doomed his own daughter, mmmmm....

      Delete
  4. This case of Gang rape and murder = must be death penalty. No repeat offender.

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  5. This is the type of justice you will frequently see in a country ruled by idol worshippers.

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    Replies
    1. agree, for eg many arab n africa state, ccp china etc.

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    2. Oooop… idol worshippers!

      Zombieicism has many disguised idols DON'T u know?

      AGAIN, what happened to those white trashy type of justice practised in demoNcratic west, 犬养mfer?

      Selectively common sense, right?

      Delete
    3. the white worship billy idol, not idol.

      Delete
    4. Wakakakakakaka…

      Yr kind of 南魔萬England slang!

      Delete