10 things to know about the Hathras Gang Rape Case

In what can be called another Nirbhaya for India, the Hathras Gang Rape Case has left the nation in shock. A 19 year old girl from the Dalit community was gang raped by four men while she went to the fields to help her family cut fodder for animals. The incident happened in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, a state that's seeing an increased number of crimes against women especially rape cases of young girls.

The young girl, the Hathras rape survivor died in a hospital after two weeks of suffering brutal injuries. The rapists allegedly tried to strangle her with her own dupatta (scarf) and tortured her. Here's all you need to know about this case.

1. The Hathras rape survivor died after four men, reportedly of upper caste, raped her. As per reports she is from the Dalit community.
2. The girl had multiple fractures and was in intensive care unit for two weeks. Just before she died on 29th September, she was moved to Delhi but unfortunately succumbed to her injuries.
3. The four men, are reportedly in jail and will be charged for murder. The woman was attacked on September 14 at her village in Hathras, 200 km from India's capital Delhi.
4.  She was collecting grass, to get some fodder. She wearing a salwar kameez, when the rapists dragged her by her dupatta and gangraped her as per reports.
5. The Chairperson of National Commission for Women said, "We will be there to help her family. To control such incidents we need to change the mindset of the society." Smriti Irani, Minister for Women and Development of Children in India said in a UN Meet, "India recognises centrality of women empowerment in developmental agenda." This comes amidst massive social media uproar that important representatives of the government are not speaking up enough on the Hathras rape case.
6. In UP meanwhile, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a special investigation into the matter. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi were to visit Hathras but the district has been sealed citing coronavirus as per reports. Sonia Gandhi made a statement saying this was not rape but murder. Read more about that here."The incident is very saddening. Our government stands with the victim’s family. Investigation started immediately and four accused have been arrested. Strict action will be taken. The law will take its course,” said UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh.
7. The National Human Rights Commission has shown concern over the behaviour of police in Uttar Pradesh and release a detailed statement seeking investigation. The Commission has sent notices to the chief secretary of the state government and the Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh as well. The Commission “has gone through the contents of the media reports which are very painful. A young woman belonging to SC community has been subjected to sexual harassment and brutality. It is apparent that the police was not able to take timely action to trace and save the victim girl due to which the young woman could not be saved from being subjected to grave cruelty. The way the perpetrators have acted shows that they had no fear of law in their mind. The family has suffered an irrevocable loss. A young and a precious human life has been lost.”
8. The Supreme Court of India has called the Hathras gangrape case "shocking" and "horrible". It has assured that a smooth investigation will be carried out in the case. In an affidavit filed before the Apex Court, the UP government justified the late-night cremation of the deceased Dalit woman. Saying that the state was on alert due to the then pending Babri Masjid verdit and coronavirus, the affidavit added, "In such extraordinary and severe circumstances, the district administration took the decision to convince the parents of the deceased to cremate her with all religious rites at night to avoid large scale violence in the morning to cremate the body of the victim that was lying for almost more than 20 hours after her death and post-mortem."
9. The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has rapped UP government  for "forcibly" creating the deceased Dalit woman. "If the girl belonged to your family, then would you have done the same thing?" the court asked officials.
10. In the first hearing the case that happened on October 13, the gangrape survivor's family raised three demands in front of the HC. "The victim’s family has demanded that reports of CBI be kept confidential. We had also prayed that the case be transferred out of UP. The third demand is that the family be provided security until the case completely concludes,” said Seema Kushwah, lawyer of the survivor's family.