Hathras case: Victim's family wants case be transferred to Delhi or Mumbai

Lucknow, Oct 13: The family members of a 19-year-old woman who died last month after her torture and alleged gang rape at a village in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras has asked for the case to be moved out of the state. According to the family's lawyer, this was among the three demands placed before the Allahabad high court.

According to reports, lawyer Seema Kushwaha said that the family wants the case to be transferred to Delhi or Mumbai.

The lawyer also said the family had urged the court to stop reports of the investigation being made public. It is also said that the case will be heard again on November 2.

At the hearing, the Uttar Pradesh police and administration faced tough questions about the way they handled the case and the middle of the night cremation of the victim, who died of horrific injuries from the assault by four upper caste men from her village on September 14.

The family, among the few Dalits in their village, has been given protection at the village after it complained of intimidation by the upper caste Thakurs. In court yesterday, they asked for more security, alleging they felt unsafe.

The district administration justified the woman's cremation in the absence of her family; her parents and brothers had been locked up in their home when she was cremated at 2.30 am. The police refused to hand over the body even though her parents begged to take her home one last time and perform her funeral the next morning.

Hathras District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxar said there was "no pressure from the state government" to carry out the cremation in that manner, implying that the local authorities took the controversial decision. He said the police had reasons to take the step for the sake of law and order, an argument that was challenged by the family.