Rape or honour killing? Caste or no Caste? Hathras – The truth so far

The physical assault and alleged gangrape of a 19-year old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras has snowballed into a massive controversy, with opposition parties turning the tragic incident into a mud fest against the ruling BJP government of the state, with prime target Yogi Adityanath, who is the Chief Minister of UP being asked to resign from his post. The media, most of which bears an anti-BJP allegiance in any case, is fuelling rumour mills relating to the case, while also crying an assault on their freedom to report on the case, even as journalists on the ground indulge in a brazen show of theatrics substituting reportage.

According to the Hindustan Times, on September 14, the 19-year old victim and her mother had gone to the field near their village to collect fodder, which is where the physical assault on the girl by four suspected men took place. The victim, who was tortured brutally, was then hospitalised in Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital. On September 29, the victim succumbed to her injuries, and in a dying declaration of sorts, revealed that she had been raped by the attackers.

NDTV reported that the victim was found by her family in the fields, allegedly naked, bleeding, with multiple fractures and a gash in her tongue. The police claimed her tongue was cut because she bit it while her attackers were trying to strangle her.

The district administration of Hathras, on the same night, around 2:30 am, cremated the mortal remains of the victim in the presence of her family members, even though false reports have been doing the rounds ever since that the family was not allowed to attend the cremation and that they did not give consent for the midnight ceremony. The midnight cremation of the victim caught the eye of national media, who sensed an opportunity to exploit the tragedy to milk the same for their own benefits. A barrage of media persons soon landed upon Hathras, specifically the victim’s village.

Live Hindustan claimed that the victim’s cremation was conducted in the absence of her family, even though videos have emerged showing her family members present at the cremation site for the ceremony. Mind you, false reports of District Administration’s high-handedness in the matter concerning the victim’s funeral had played a pivotal role in the case spiralling into the massive caste-flashpoint that it has become today.

Important also is the mention of the fact that the victim herself, in her alleged first statement, had not claimed that she had been raped by the four men who are now under arrest. The ‘gangrape’ angle, meanwhile, has come under much scrutiny, as the post-mortem report had suggested that the victim succumbed to her grievous neck injuries. The report of the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) in Agra also said that the samples of the victim did not contain sperm, hence ruling out forced intercourse.

Meanwhile, to further back the Police’s version of no rape having taken place, a forensic report from the Aligarh Muslim University’s Jawaharlal Medical College has ruled out the possibility of rape, either vaginal or anal. The report has also claimed that only physical assault could be ascertained to have taken place on the victim.

Even as outrage was growing all around India in relation to the Hathras case, leaked audio tapes showed India Today journalist tutoring the victim’s brother. The same journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was earlier caught coaching JNU vandals masquerading as students, while videos earlier also showed her telling Congress workers as to what slogans they should shout.

The media has been working overtime to devise a caste angle to the case, thereby reducing a crime against humanity to a crime against a certain caste. This, despite the fact that conflicting reports have been emerging from the ground, which are suggestive of the fact that there is much more to this case than meets the eye, and that which is fed to Indians by the media.

The reluctance, and borderline opposition to a CBI probe by the victim’s family, which has been ordered by the UP-Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath into the case, has raised the eyebrows of many. Why would the victim’s family oppose the initiation of a CBI probe into the case? There have also been murmurs of the case, in fact, being that of honour killing.

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The details of the case are out there for everybody, and as days pass a clearer picture will emerge. It is up to the public to decide what to believe and what not to. Indians must step cautiously, and wait for the completion of CBI’s probe in the case.