Unnao rape victim's sister says family won't perform last rites unless CM reaches her village
Unnao: The sister of the deceased Unnao rape victim said on Sunday her family will not perform the last rites unless Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister arrives in her village and assures of strict action against the accused.
The body of the rape victim who succumbed to severe burn injuries in a Delhi hospital on Friday night arrived in her native village here on Saturday. Her sister said the last rites would be performed only in the presence of CM Adityanath.
"I personally want to speak to Yogi Adityanath," she said. She also claimed that her sister was about to get a government job, and she was to join it. The sister demanded government job for one of the family members and immediate capital punishment to the accused.
When the victim's sister was told that awarding capital punishment is the job of the court, she asked "Who will make rounds of court?". Later, when the Unnao district administration proposed that the aggrieved family can meet the Chief Minister in Lucknow, the family members rejected the proposal saying they will not go there to meet him.
They insisted that the chief minister come to the village and fulfil their demands.
The district administration is making preparations for the last rites of the 23-year-old rape victim who was airlifted to Delhi and admitted to Safdarjung Hospital with 90 per cent burns.
The woman was set afire by five men, including two of her alleged rapists, on Thursday morning when she was going to Rae Bareli to attend a court hearing.
Meanwhile, several relatives of the aggrieved family and villagers have already reached the home of the victim. Heavy police force has been deployed to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. An official said that the family is waiting for arrival of some relatives.
After their arrival, the body will be burried as per the wishes of the family members. Uttar Pradesh Cabinet ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Kamal Rani Varun met the aggrieved family members on Saturday.
A statement issued by the state government said labour minister Maurya handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh as assistance to the father of the victim.
"The family will be given a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Apart from this, whatever assistance is needed in future, it will be made available from time to time. The state government is very serious and sensitive towards the unfortunate incident," Maurya said on Saturday.
He also said that directions have been issued to give stringent punishment to the accused. "The intention of the government is that injustice should not be done to anyone," Maurya said, adding the guilty will not be spared.
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SC to hear pleas for reviewing wages of priests, temple staff
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the wages and other benefits given to priests, 'sevadars' and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, seeks directions to the Centre and states to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the remuneration and other benefits given to the priests and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
"Petitioner also seeks a declaration that priests and temple staff are employee' under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019. Petitioner submits that once the State assumes the administrative, economic and financial control over temples, an employer-employee relationship arises and denial of dignified wages to priests and temple staff violates the right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21," it said.
Upadhyay said the cause of action accrued on April 4, when he went to Varanasi to attend a public programme and after performing 'Rudrabhishek' in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is controlled by the state, he came to know that even the minimum wages to live with dignity are not given to the priests and temple staff.
"Recently, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, priests and temple staff organised a large-scale protest demanding the minimum wages. Priests and temple staff are not getting even the minimum wage prescribed by the State for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. This is a systemic exploitation. State is acting as a model employer through the endowments department, but violating the minimum wages Act and the directive principles of state policy (Article 43)," it said.
The plea further said the continued refusal to meet the minimum wages with the 2026 inflation-adjusted cost of living index has forced the petitioner to seek judicial intervention to prevent the further marginalisation of priests and temple staff.
Upadhyay further said the precarious nature of livelihood was starkly exposed on February 7, 2025, when a Tamil Nadu department issued a circular at the 'Dandayuthapani Swami Temple' in Madurai, strictly prohibiting priests from accepting 'dakshina' in 'aarti plates'.
"It is necessary to state that priests in such temples often receive no formal salary from the State and rely entirely on 'Dakshina'; the State's administrative order directly threatened them with starvation. Although withdrawn due to public outrage, the incident highlights the State's arbitrary power over the survival of the priests. This is also a bitter truth that States are controlling lakhs of temples but not a single mosque or church," the PIL claimed.
The petition, alternatively, sought direction to the Centre and states to take appropriate steps for the welfare of priests, sevadars and other temple staff in the spirit of the Allahabad High Court's earlier judgments.
