The Supreme Court will hear a plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the Hathras gangrape and murder case on Tuesday.
The plea has been filed by a social activist Satyama Dubey and two lawyers Vishal Thakre and Rudra Pratap Yadav alleging failure by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) authorities in dealing with the case. A three judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramaniam will hear the matter.
The petitioners submitted that injustice had been done to the woman and her family as her body was buried by police without their consent.
“Police personnel after getting the dead body of deceased cremated the same without the consent of the family members of the deceased. Police authorities have not performed their duties towards the victim and (are) trying to shield the accused persons. Grave injustice had been done to the victim and the system is silent on the issue,” the petition said.
The 19-year-old Dalit woman was gang-raped and brutalised by four upper caste men on September 14 and died on September 29 at Delhi’s Safdurjung Hospital.
Hathras case sparked enormous outrage with a series of intense protests being observed across the nation. A protest took over social media after allegedly a video of the victim's body was posted showing the administration burning the body without the presence of family members.
The plea before the SC also sought a transfer of the trial in the case from UP to Delhi.
“The case may be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation or an SIT be formed to investigate the matter under a sitting or retired Supreme Court or High Court Judge, (and) trial of the matter may be transferred from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi,” the petitioners prayed.