Hathras case highlights: Determined to punish culprits harshly, says UP CM

A group of Congress workers blocked the cavalcade of Union minister Smriti Irani in Varanasi in protest against the alleged gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh.The protesters raised raised anti-government slogans and demanded justice for the woman's family.

Heading to Hathras! #SatyagrahaForOurDaughters pic.twitter.com/Cy2hyGQ8X2

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 3, 2020

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi leaves for Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to meet the family of the alleged gangrape victim

The SDM of Hathras Prem Prakash Meena has denied reports of removal of prohibitory orders in the village and said Section 144 CrPC is still operative in the victim's. He added that the video of DM going viral is fake and edited.

Heavy police deployment has come up on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Noida on Saturday, ahead of a scheduled visit of a Congress delegation that plans to meet the family of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras who died after an alleged gangrape.

Barricades were installed at the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway where scores of policemen, including senior officers, were present at 12.30 pm, even as CrPC section 144 remained imposed in UP's Gautam Buddh Nagar.

Senior officials of Uttar Pradesh government additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi and director general of police HC Awasthi have reached Hathras. The officials would be submitting their report to the chief minister upon returning, a government spokesperson said.

The officials were rushed to Hathras by the government administration.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday alleged that the Yogi Adityanath government was threatening the family of the Hathras gang-rape victim and asserted that such behaviour was not acceptable to the country.

Hitting out at the Yogi Adityanath dispensation, Priyanka Gandhi said the UP government is "morally corrupt".

Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is going to Hathras for politics, not for insaaf (justice).

She was addressing a press conference in Varanasi on Farm bills. She made the comment in response to a query regarding Rahul's visit to Hathras.

A delegation of Congress MPs led by former party chief Rahul Gandhi will go to Hathras Saturday afternoon to meet the family of the 19-year-old woman who died after she was assaulted and allegedly gang-raped, a senior party leader said.