Hathras gangrape: Protest marches held at many places in Haryana

Protest marches were taken out at many places in Haryana against the gangrape in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, with some demonstrators demanding capital punishment for the culprits.

The protests were organised by various social outfits and Dalit organisations on Thursday at several places including Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Fatehabad and Rohtak.

At Bahadurgarh, the protesters burnt an effigy of the Uttar Pradesh government and raised slogans against the BJP led regime for its alleged failure to manage law and order.

Our demand is that the culprits should be hanged, said a protester in Yamunanagar's Radaur.

Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja hit out at the Uttar Pradesh government over the incident, asking why did they delay registering a case?

Is it a crime being a daughter of a poor Dalit, does she not have a right to seek justice?, she said in a tweet.

Selja also asked, why did the victim's family not get the right to conduct her last rites?

A 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men in Hathras on September 14. She was referred to the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on Monday with spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. She died around 3 am on Tuesday.

Her death and subsequent cremation in the dead of the night in Hathras allegedly under police pressure on Tuesday triggered outrage across the country over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh and over women safety in general.

The Chandigarh unit of the Congress took out a candle march here on Wednesday evening condemning the horrific incident.

The party's Chandigarh unit president Pradeep Chhabra while condemning the incident, alleged that criminals were having a free run in Uttar Pradesh under the BJP rule.

"It is unfortunate that the BJP which talks about Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao has the worst track record of crimes against women in states ruled by it, he said.