The Shiv Sena on Tuesday sharpened its attack on the Centre as it said that ‘Y-Plus’ security was provided to a Bollywood actor but the family of the Hathras gang-rape victim did not get any protection.
The 19-year-old woman was gang-raped on September 14 in Bul Gargi village of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district by four upper-caste men and she died on September 29. The Uttar Pradesh police and several members of the local administration have been under the scanner over their handling of the crime, which has sparked protests across the country.
The party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ claimed in its editorial that the family of the victim has been “receiving threats to life and is living under terror”. It further asked what was wrong if Y-plus security cover is being demanded for the family.
“The Centre gave Y-plus security cover to an actress from Mumbai, but the family of the Hathras gang-rape victim does not get any. This is not the principle of equal justice. This justice is not in line with Dr Ambedkar’s Constitution,” the editorial said.
The editorial was referring to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who was given the security cover in September after she made comments against the Mumbai Police over the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Ranaut and Shiv Sena engaged in a war of words after the former compared Mumbai to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The Sena’s mouthpiece also questioned the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to recommend a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Hathras case at a time when the victim’s family has sought a judicial inquiry into the matter. On what would be CBI’s course of action, it highlighted that the UP government “destroyed evidence” by cremating the victim.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court asking got for a court-monitored probe by CBI into the case. The affidavit also states that a “vicious campaign” has been unleashed to defame the state government, which is led by Yogi Adityanath.
