Hathras Case: Amid Tight Security, Victim’s Family Leaves For Lucknow; High Court To Record Their Version Today

Hathras Case: The court will be recording the version of the victim’s family members in the case as it had asked the woman’s parents to come to apprise it of their version of the incident. The hearing is likely to be held in-person.

Hathras Case: Amid tight security arrangement, escorted by six vehicles, the family of Hathras victim on Monday early hours left for Lucknow, as they are scheduled to appear before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court today. It is to be noted that the court had ordered the Hathras district administration to arrange for the family's travel. The court will be recording the version of the victim’s family members in the case as it had asked the woman’s parents to come to apprise it of their version of the incident. The hearing is likely to be held in-person. The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly gangraped by four men and later died in Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital. The case is listed for hearing before a division bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Rajan Roy at 2:15 PM. The high court had directed the district judge to ensure that the victim's family members appear before it on Monday. It has also summoned additional chief secretary, home; director general of police; ADG, law and order; and district magistrate and superintendent of police of Hathras to furnish the status report of the investigation in the case. The state government has asked additional advocate general V K Sahi to represent it before the court. Tight security in place: Sixty security personnel have been deployed and eight closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the victim's house to ensure the safety of her family members, according to the police. With the help of CCTV cameras, the victim's house is being monitored round-the-clock, the police said. Jaiswal said a register of visitors is being maintained by policemen deployed at the entrance of the house. Deputy Inspector General of Police Shalabh Mathur, who has been sent to Hathras from Lucknow as a nodal officer, had on Friday said if needed, a control room would also be established. The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court had on October 1 summoned top government officials and it had said that it was shocked at the incident and the subsequent forced cremation. Taking suo motu cognisance of the case, which has triggered widespread outrage, a division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh had ordered the Uttar Pradesh additional chief secretary, state police chief and an additional director general of police to appear before it on October 12 to explain the incident. The 19-year old woman was allegedly raped by four men on September 14. She succumbed to severe assault injuries at a Delhi hospital a fortnight later which was followed by a hushed up cremation at night allegedly forced by the district administration. CBI takes over probe: The CBI registered an FIR early Sunday morning and took over investigation into the alleged gangrape and murder of a Dalit woman last month in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, officials said. The central probe agency registered the FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections related to gangrape and murder among others, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.