Hathras cremation “rights violation” of woman, her family: High Court

Lucknow, October 12: The High Court in Uttar Pradesh has said the cremation of the 20-year-old woman in Hathras by the state authorities, though done in the name of law and order, “is prima facie an infringement upon the human rights of the victim and her family”.  

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had taken up the case amid the countrywide outrage over the brutal torture and alleged gangrape of the woman and the subsequent 2 am cremation by the police.

In its order after Monday’s hearing, the court — which is examining the role of the police in the matter, including the secret cremation — said the woman was “at least entitled to decent cremation in accordance with her religious customs and rituals, which essentially are to be performed by her family”, NDTV reported.

“Cremation is one of the ‘Sanskars’ i.e., antim sanskar (funeral) recognized as an important ritual which could not have been compromised taking shelter of law and order situation,” the court said.

The judges also warned against “character assassination” of the 20-year-old. “No one should indulge in character assassination of the victim just as the accused should not be pronounced guilty before a fair trial”.

With four so-called upper caste men accused the case, the community has been vocal in defending them. Several rounds of meetings were held over the last weeks, and there have been claims that one of the men had been in a relationship. It was her family that was involved in her death, in what is known as honour killing, the community claimed.

There have been reports that the family was alerted about the relationship after more than a hundred phone calls between the woman and the accused.

The claims of no wrongdoing by the accused gathered steam after forensic reports negated the possibility of rape. The question, though, remained open since the samples were collected days after the alleged event.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/victim-was-at-least-entitled-to-decent-cremation-high-court-on-hathras-2309625