New Delhi: Left leaders gathered at the Jantar Mantar here on Friday to take part in protests demanding justice for a 19-year-old Dalit woman of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras who died after being allegedly gang-raped.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, politburo member Brinda Karat and CPI general secretary D Raja were among the leaders present at the site. They questioned the silence of the central government over the issue.
“The silence of the central government and the top leadership of the BJP on such a heinous crime and the UP government’s response thereafter speaks volumes about the authoritarian and anti-democratic ‘chehra’, ‘chaal’, ‘charitra’, and ‘chintan’ of the ruling party,” Yechury said.
“The Uttar Pradesh government has no right to stay in power. Our demand is that justice should be served,” he said.
Hundreds gathered at the protest site and demanded justice for the victim, who died on Tuesday, suffering from fractures, paralysis and a spinal injury after a savage assault by four men.
Karat said the lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh is “a caste code in operation, not the Constitution of India”.
“We fought for the primacy of rape victim’s statement in law, but now, they have brought a false report to save the criminals, saying there was no rape. I want to ask Modiji. Is this your culture? Your UP government has put the family under house arrest. You are punishing them and not the government responsible for her death,” she said.
“Is it your culture not to allow people to console the grieving family? Shame on you Modiji. Your government denied her proper medical attention, your government did not allow her family to give her a dignified funeral, and now, you are denying them solace. The UP chief minister should be sacked,” Karat added.