Suspicious action of police dented your image, Uma Bharati tells Yogi Adityanath

Bharti is the first senior BJP leader to question the actions of the UP government in the incident that has triggered protests from several parties and civil society. Two days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked Adityanath to take strict action against the culprits.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, Bharti also questioned the cordoning off of the victim’s family and village.

“She was the daughter of a Dalit family. Police cremated her in a great hurry, and they have now cordoned off the victim’s family and the village,” Bharti said.

“To my knowledge there is no rule that the family can’t meet anyone during an investigation by an SIT (special investigation team). This will only put the SIT’s investigation under a cloud.”

“You are an administrator with a very clean image,” Bharti tweeted to Adityanath. “I request you to allow media persons and other political parties to meet the aggrieved family.”

Bharti, who said she was admitted in AIIMS, Rishikesh after having tested positive for Covid-19, said she was “extremely restless in the corona ward”. “Had I not been corona positive, I would have been sitting with that family in that village,” she wrote. “When I leave AIIMS Rishikesh, I will definitely meet the victim’s family in Hathras.”

Bharti said she had kept quiet initially, “but the way in which the police have cordoned off the victim’s family and the village, no matter what the justification, raises many doubts”.

Bharti said she was senior to Adityanath in the BJP, and like his “elder sister”. “I urge you not to turn down my suggestion.”

The 19-year old Dalit woman was assaulted and allegedly raped by four upper caste men on September 14. She died in Delhi on Tuesday, and was cremated by police in the fields near her home in the early hours of Wednesday.