New Delhi, March 27 The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Uttar Pradesh government's plea against high court direction to consider giving a job to a family member of the victim in Hathras case and also the relocation of the family, saying "the state should not come up in such matters".
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala told Garima Prasad, additional advocate general (AAG) of Uttar Pradesh, "State should not come up in such matters... Prasad submitted that the state government is ready to relocate the family but they wanted a job either in Noida or Delhi."
She further added that whether the elder married brother of the victim could be regarded as a 'dependent', was a question of law to be considered.
Declining to entertain the state government's plea, the Chief Justice said, "these are facilities provided to the family. We should not interfere. State should not come up in these matters..."
After the order was pronounced, the AAG urged the apex court to keep the question of law open, the bench said that the order has specified that it is passed in the special facts and circumstances of the case.
In July last year, the high court passed directions in a matter connected with Hathras case, where a 19-year-old Dalit woman was alleged to have been raped and murdered in September 2020 in Hathras.
The high court said the state authorities must abide by the promise, which was made to the family in September 2020, to give employment to one member and also directed the authorities to consider relocation of the family outside Hathras but within Uttar Pradesh.
The high court's order came on a PIL registered suo motu as Right to Decent and Dignified Last Rites/Cremation in 2020 after victim's last rites were performed in haste after midnight allegedly in the absence of the consent of the family.
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