Hathras case: Situation heats up as political parties break barricades; police use force to control crowd

By Joymala Bagchi
Hathras (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 4 : The situation in Hathras heated up as political parties which had come to meet the victim's family allegedly broke barricades and tried to take the law in their hands in the afternoon today.
The incident took place around 2:30 pm when political parties gathered outside the village entrance and started protesting.
Along with political parties, a large gathering of people in support of the accused also staged a protest.
UP police used mild lathi charge to disperse the crowd agitating outside the village. Around 300 police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order.
While narrating the situation Prem Prakash Meena, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Hathras Sadar told ANI that despite making it clear that a delegation of not more than five people can be allowed inside, workers of Samajwadi Party and Rashtiya Lok Dal (RLD) started to push around and misbehave with lady constables.
"In the morning itself we made it clear that a delegation of not more than five people can be allowed inside because it's a small village and there could be a law and order situation. The delegation from Samajwadi Party and RLD came in. We led five members from each to get inside. But eventually, their workers started to push around and misbehave with lady constables," he said.
He said that a circle officer (CO) got injured in the ruckus created by the party workers after they broke the barricading and pelted stones, and to disperse the crowd police had to use minor force.
"They broke the barricading open and pelted stones. One of our COs got injured. To disperse the crowd we had to use minor force. He was pushed to the ground. To disburse the crowd we had to use minor force," the SDM said.
He continued, "Situation is totally under control. We are requesting everybody not to take law in their own hand. A delegation of five people is allowed and we are letting delegation inside the village one by one."
Jayant Chaudhary, leader of RLD met the family of the alleged gang-rape victim in Hathras today.
Around 3 pm Bhim Army too staged a sit-in protest one km away from the village after their convoy was stopped by UP Police. Later party leader Chandrasekhar Azad was allowed to meet the family.
Police personnel on duty requested all to abide by the law.
Earlier today, a Sarv Samaj meeting was organised at Hathras city's Vasant Bagh, were more than 500 people participated.
The meeting which began at 10 am continued for two hours, and later welcomed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision of CBI probe into the alleged gang-rape case.
Hathras case sparked enormous outrage with a series of protests being observed across the nation. The protest took over social media after a video of the alleged victim's body being burnt by the administration without the presence of family members.
Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed which restricts gathering of more than five people here at Hathras.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had on Saturday recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the case.
The 19-year-old woman from Hathras died at Delhi's Safdarjung hospital on September 29. All the four accused in the incident have been arrested.