In India where a rape is reported every 15 minutes, most assaults don’t even make the news. But there comes brutality and with the rape of this young woman, she suffered ultimate pain. The victim was gang-raped, beaten, strangulated and ultimately left there to suffer. In India where a rape is reported every 15 minutes, most assaults don’t even make the news.
The police had initially registered an attempted murder case but added rape charges only after the woman’s formal statement a week after the incident when she was able to speak. Initially, a senior officer said rape had not been confirmed and they were waiting for a forensic report.
The woman’s body was taken to her village in Hathras, about 200 km from Delhi, after midnight. As her family and villagers suspected the UP police wanted to complete the last rites right then, in the middle of the night, they insisted that this was “against their tradition”; the woman’s father pleaded with the police to be allowed to take her home and cremate her in the morning.
But, what happened after that has outraged the entire Nation. The victim’s parents wanted to do all the last rites according to the tradition they follow but the Police took away the body without the parents’ consent. “We wanted the last rites to be performed according to the Hindu traditions. Despite our protests, the cremation was performed. They took the body forcefully. We couldn’t see our daughter’s face for the last time,” stated a devastated girl’s father.
At the village, female relatives tried to block the vehicle by hugging the bonnet. A woman, believed to be the mother of the 20-year-old, sat on the road sobbing and beating her chest. The police vehicle was stopped at multiple points before the cops allegedly pushed the protesters away and drove towards the funeral ground. Despite several protests, the Police cremated the girl’s body at 2:30 AM in the morning.
This further aggravated the citizens of India. Several expressed their anger and grief on social media:
In this video before dead of #HathrasVictim #JusticeForManishaValmiki Manisha is saying that she was gangraped but yesterday UP earlier policeofficer said that she wasn’t gangraped raped.was this girl murdered when she cud hv this evidence after this wht happend in the hospital pic.twitter.com/XPUSQElTsv
— Nagma (@nagma_morarji) September 30, 2020
What happened in #Hathras is inhumane and goes beyond cruelty. Hope the culprits of this heinous crime will be brought to justice. #JusticeForManishaValmiki
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 29, 2020
THIS MUST STOP!!!! #Hathras
Beyond disgusted.— Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) September 29, 2020
Shoot these rapists publicly, what is the solution to these gang rapes that are growing in numbers every year? What a sad and shameful day for this country. Shame on us we failed our daughters #RIPManishaValmiki
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) September 29, 2020
Angry & Frustrated!Such brutality in #Hathras gangrape.When will this stop?Our laws & their enforcement must be so strict that the mere thought of punishment makes rapists shudder with fear!Hang the culprits.Raise ur voice to safeguard daughters & sisters-its the least we can do
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) September 29, 2020
#Hathras will forever remain a blemish on the fabric of this nation. Shame on all those who shield people who commit such crimes and all those who cover it up. To deny an already broken & grieving family their daughters last rites is barbaric. Humanity is dead.
— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) September 30, 2020
Horrifying heart-wrenching details of #HathrasCase … every single caste-denier/ “there- is -no -caste -discrimination -in -India’ bullshitter should read this.. and we should all be ashamed! Unspeakable horror. And the institutionalised apathy of the system is chilling! https://t.co/uEI7yBnVkm
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) September 29, 2020
Upper-caste perpetrators like Thakurs in #HathrasCase doesn’t get impunity from the sky. It’s their caste network & political support that provides them with the impunity.
Why the hell shouldn’t we bring caste, make it political? #HathrasCase is fucking caste-based & political.
— Kiruba Munusamy (@kirubamunusamy) September 29, 2020
The UP police, which is under scrutiny over alleged lapses throughout the case, has been accused of rushing the cremation in a desperate cover-up attempt.
