Hathras victim cremated late night to avoid large-scale violence, UP government tells Supreme Court

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Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday (October 6) told the Supreme Court (SC) that Hathras victim was cremated in the middle of the night "to avoid large-scale violence". The UP government added in its affidavit to the SC that "extraordinary circumstances forced district administration to take the extraordinary step of cremating the victim at night in presence of and with the consent of family members."

"The district administration at Hathras had been receiving several intelligence inputs since the morning of September 29 on the manner in which the dharna had taken place at Safdarjung hospital and the whole issue was being exploited and a caste/communal colour was being given," said UP government.

Uttar Pradesh government said it had received specific inputs that lakhs of protesters "of both communities/castes" along with leaders and workers of different political parties and the media would assemble the next morning at the village, "which is likely to turn violent and will lead to major law and order problems."

"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," said the UP government.

The state government told the apex court that once the post-mortem had been done, "there cannot be any bad intention" to speed up the cremation "except to obviate the potential violent situation resulting from the planned caste divide by certain vested interests".

Uttar Pradesh government also said in its afidavit that opposition parties are hatching conspiracies to to discredit and defame the incumbent BJP government in the state. It has said a "deliberate and planned attempt is being made to invite caste/communal riots" in the state. 

The affidavit also said that the state government has recommended a CBI probe in Hathras case and requested the SC to direct the CBI to probe the alleged rape and assault of the 19-year-old girl in Hathras.