Backing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's decision to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the alleged rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on October 17 said the case was mishandled at 'thana (police station) level'.
Denying the Uttar Pradesh government's role in any kind of mishandling of the case, Shah, in an interview with Network18's Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, said: "The government is not involved at the 'thana level', there are some officers at local level and I think Yogi ji did the correct thing by forming an SIT. The team will thoroughly probe the matter and submit its report, based on which strict action will be taken."
On being asked if there was a need to bring about larger police reforms in the country, the home minister said: "There is no denying that police reforms are the need of the hour but a rape happens in Hathras and Rajasthan at the same time, but why only the Hathras incident is played up? How correct is to do politics over such a heinous crime? The three accused in Hathras were arrested the same day and today they are in jail."
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On the cremation of the victim’s body in the middle of the night, Shah said: "There is an SIT investigating the matter, some officials were also suspended and now the entire investigation is transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. But no one should politics over such issues.”
A 20-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly gang-raped by four upper caste men on September 14 in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district. She succumbed to severe assault injuries at a Delhi hospital a fortnight later, which was followed by a hushed-up cremation, allegedly forced by the Hathras district administration.
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The incident triggered a massive outrage, resulting in a pitched political battle from Delhi to Hathras. "Shocked" by the incident, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had on October 1 summoned the top government officials.
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