Sonia Gandhi alleged that the issue was sought to be hushed up while referring to the victim as "Hathras' Nirbhaya".
Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi in a video statement slammed the Uttar Pradesh administration for the 'indifference' it showed in the Hathras gangrape case.
She alleged that the issue was sought to be hushed up while referring to the victim as "Hathras` Nirbhaya".
"Is it a crime to be a daughter of a poor family?" asked Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi in a video statement on the Hathras gangrape.
"I want to say that Hathras` Nirbhaya did not die. She was killed by an oppressive government, by its administration, by the indifference of the Uttar Pradesh government," alleged Sonia Gandhi in a strongly-worded statement.
She alleged that while the victim did not get justice while she was alive, she was not allowed to be handed over to her family even when she was dead. Gandhi, in an emotional statement, claimed that the "crying mother" was robbed of her chance to bid a "final goodbye". The Congress chief called it an "utter sin".
"The girl`s body was cremated forcefully. A person has dignity even after death. Our Hindu faith speaks of it. But that child was cremated like an orphan by the force of the police. What kind of justice is this? What kind of government is this? You think you will do anything and the nation will just watch? Absolutely not. The country will speak up against your injustice," remarked Gandhi.
The horrific gangrape incident took place on September 14 when the woman had gone out in the fields with her mother. She went missing soon after and was found later beaten and tortured.
The 19-year-old Dalit victim, who was gangraped and left paralysed by four upper-caste men, died a fortnight after the attack in a Delhi hospital on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the family has accused the local police of having forced them to conduct the last rite in the middle of the night against their wishes. Despite pleading with the police to take the body home and cremate her in the morning, the rites were performed in the night.
However, the police have denied the allegations and said that the cremation was carried out “according to the wishes” of the family and all reports regarding the cremations are “incorrect”.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke to the victim’s father via video-link on Wednesday. Speaking to the parents of the woman, the chief minister said that a fast-track court would be set up in order for speedy justice.
(With IANS inputs)
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