JOIN USBulandshahr 'gangrape' becomes election issue in UP as Priyanka meets victim's family
The alleged gangrape and murder of a minor in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district, which was reminiscent of the Hathras gangrape and murder of a Dalit teen last year, might become an issue in the forthcoming Assembly in the state with the opposition party leaders making a beeline before the residence of the victim.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met the family of the victim in Bulandshahr on Thursday and promised to take up the case with the authorities. Priyanka slammed the BJP government in the state for not allowing the family members of the victim to cremate the body of the minor in accordance with their religious traditions. The body of the victim was allegedly cremated forcefully in the presence of the local police.
"The incident exposes the hollow claims of the state government on the issue of women's safety... earlier also the cops in Hathras district forced the family of the Dalit teen who had been gangraped before being murdered, to cremate her body at midnight," she said.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leaders had also visited the family of the victim and assured them that they would get justice.
According to the family members, the minor had gone missing on January 21 when she had gone out to bring fodder for the livestock. Her body was recovered later in the fields. A youth, who was a resident of a nearby village, was also found there in a semi-conscious state.
The police claimed that the youth was having an affair with the minor and that he had killed her after an argument and then tried to kill himself also. The family, however, claimed that the girl had been gangraped and then murdered.
They also claimed that the police forced them to cremate the body in the dead of night. Police, however, denied the allegations but said that two persons were arrested and the matter was being investigated.
Check out latest videos from DH: