- Thursday, April 10, 2025
By: indiaweekly.biz Staff
AMID mounting criticism in the wake of alleged rape incidents in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday (2) said those who even think of harming women will face “total destruction”.
Stressing that his government was committed to women’s safety, Adityanath said offenders will get “exemplary punishment”.
The warning came after a 19-year-old dalit woman was allegedly gangraped in UP’s Hathras by four upper-caste men. She died at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday morning.
“Total destruction of those who even think of harming the self-respect of women in UP is inevitable,” Adityanath said on Twitter, adding that this was his “resolve and promise”.
“They will get such a punishment that will set an example for future. The UP government is committed to the safety and development of mothers and daughters.”
Galvanised by the incident, political parties held protests in several cities on Friday.
In Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, the capital of the state where the crime took place, police baton-charged more than 100 activists from the Samajwadi Party, who held placards demanding justice for the dead woman.
Later in the day, the Bhim Army, a party championing dalit rights, plans a protest at the historic Jantar Mantar monument in central Delhi.
Members the Trinamool Congress were stopped close to the victim’s house while some leaders were allegedly roughed up by police officers.
On Thursday, police barred Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi, siblings and leaders of the Indian National Congress, from visiting the dead woman’s family in their village.
While the family said the woman died as the result of a brutal sexual assault, senior state police officer Prashant Kumar told ANI News on Thursday the woman died due to a neck injury. “No sperm was found in samples,” he added.
A police statement said, according to a forensic report, “no rape was committed”.
The findings, confirming those of a preliminary medical report and a postmortem, “exposed the conspiracy of those who tried to push the state into a caste turmoil”, it added.
However, Bhuri Singh, the victim’s uncle, said her “dying declaration said she was raped”.
Mishika Singh, a lawyer and activist, told AFP that the findings were “in no way conclusive proof to say rape was not committed”.
“Ignoring the dying declaration of the victim on the basis of a non-conclusive forensic report goes to show the murky investigation being done by the police,” she said.
