Gang-raped Dalit woman dies in Delhi hospital
A 19-year-old woman, who was gang-raped in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district two weeks ago, died of her grievous injuries at a Delhi hospital on Tuesday, prompting outrage, protests and calls for justice. The Dalit teen was allegedly sexually attacked by four men on September 14 and referred on Monday to a Delhi hospital with spinal injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue.
NEW DELHI/HATHRAS: A 19-year-old woman, who was brutally gang-raped in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district two weeks ago, died of her grievous injuries at a Delhi hospital on Tuesday morning, prompting outrage and angry protests.
Recalling the horrors of the Nirbhaya case, the Dalit teen was allegedly sexually attacked by four men on September 14 and referred on Monday to a Delhi hospital in an extremely critical condition with spinal injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. She couldn’t survive the night and died at 3 am, Hathras Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir quoted her family as saying.
As news of her death spread, protests broke out at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital as well as in Vijay Chowk and in Hathras and civil society activists and politicians demanded justice for her. All the four men alleged to be involved in the crime have been arrested and will now face charges under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, according to the Hathras SP.
Leading the protests outside Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad said he appealed to all members of the Dalit community to take to the streets and demand death penalty for the guilty.
Hitting out at the Yogi Adityanath government in UP, the Congress questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister and women BJP leaders and alleged that the state has become the “crime capital” of the country. The party also staged protests seeking justice at Vijay Chowk.
Congress leaders Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi, BSP chief Mayawati, SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal condoled her death and condemned the UP government.