Hathras victim was 'killed by a ruthless govt': Sonia Gandhi slams BJP dispensation
New Delhi: In a scathing attack on the Adityanath dispensation in Uttar Pradesh over the Hathras gangrape incident, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said the victim was "killed by a ruthless government", its administration and its ignorance.
The 19-year-old Dalit woman, who died in a Delhi hospital a fortnight after she was gangraped in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, was cremated in the early hours of Wednesday.
Her family alleged the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night. However, local police officers told PTI that the cremation was carried out "as per the wishes of the family".
In a video statement posted on the Congress' official Twitter handle, Gandhi said crores of people were sad and angry and the "demoniac behaviour that Hathras' daughter had to suffer is a blot on our society".
Asking if it was a crime to be a poor person's daughter, Gandhi questioned the Yogi Adityanath government in the state as to why "the cry for justice" of the victim's family was not heard for weeks.
"There was an attempt to hush up the matter. The girl was not given timely treatment and a daughter is no more amongst us. I want to say that Hathras' Nirbhaya has not died, she has been killed -- by a ruthless government, by its administration and by the UP government's ignorance," the Congress chief said.
"When she was alive, she was not heard, she was not protected, and after her death she was also deprived of her home's soil. She was not handed over to her family and a crying mother was not even given the chance to bid final adieu to her daughter. This is a big sin," Gandhi said.
She alleged that the woman's body was cremated "forcibly". Even in death there is a person's dignity and the Hindu religion talks about that as well, she said.
"But that girl was cremated like orphans by using the force of the police. What kind of justice is this, what kind of a government is this. You think that you can do anything and the country will just keep looking. No, the country will speak out against your injustice," Gandhi said.
"From the Congress party, I demand justice for the Hathras victim. India is a country for all and everyone has the right to live with dignity. The Constitution has given us this right. We will not allow the BJP to break the country and the Constitution," she asserted.
On September 14, the young woman had gone to the fields with her mother and went missing soon after. She was found later, beaten and tortured, her tongue cut as she bit it when the accused attempted to strangle her.
She was first admitted to Aligarh Muslim University's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital and then shifted to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on Monday.
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Congress names candidates for 8 Haryana LS seats, fields Kumari Selja, Deepender Hooda
Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.
The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.
The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.
The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.
Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.
Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.
