Mamata Banerjee condemns Hathras rape, “forceful cremation” & “lofty promises” of the BJP

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday condemned the rape and killing of a young Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras. She took to Twitter to condemn the incident and attacked the BJP-led government in UP, saying that “more shameful is the forceful cremation” without the family’s presence.

Banerjee wrote: “Have no words to condemn the barbaric & shameful incident at Hathras involving a young Dalit girl. My deepest condolences to the family. More shameful is the forceful cremation without the family’s presence or consent, exposing those who use slogans & lofty promises for vote”.

At a meeting in north Bengal’s Siliguri, during an administrative meeting, Banerjee again attacked the UP government for the brutality and also attacked BJP led government at the Centre for making lofty promises that they failed to keep. She added that despite the promises made, the Centre had failed to reopen the closed tea gardens in north Bengal.

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has been criticised for the brutal handling of case of rape and murder of the 20-year-old woman. The gang-raped woman who died on Tuesday was cremated in the dead of night by the police without the family’s presence.

The woman died at a hospital on Tuesday. She had suffered multiple fractures and spinal injury following an assault on her by four upper caste men from her village on September 14. The UP Police took away her body from the hospital to the village and cremated the body forcibly and locked the family in their home. The family had pleaded with the police to take the body home and allow the cremation the next morning.