Hathras in Uttar Pradesh has again shot to infamy with the father of a sexual assault victim being shot dead by the accused out on bail. Last year, the city, which is about 200 kms from the national capital Delhi, was in news with equally grim headlines. A 19-year-old girl was allegedly brutally gangraped and assaulted and she died a few days later in a Delhi hospital.

Uttar Pradesh has one of the highest rates of crimes against women. According to the NCRB’s 2019 report, the state reported the highest number of crimes against women — 59,853. This accounts for 14.7 % of such cases across the country. UP also had the highest number of crimes against girl children under the POCSO Act and ranked second in terms of rapes committed.

Here’s all about the two Hathras incidents that have rocked the nation

The incident in 2020

On September 14, 2020, a 19-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped and brutally assaulted by four upper-caste men while other members of her family were busy working on the fields nearby. The woman had severe injuries on her spine and a gash on her tongue. Her relatives told police that she was attacked by these men, gagged with her dupatta and dragged to a field where she was gangraped.

The condition of the girl deteriorated thereafter and she was shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital. However, she succumbed to her injuries two weeks later, triggering massive protests and outrage across the country.

The subsequent handling of the case earned widespread criticism. The police came under attack for hurried, midnight cremation where allegedly even the family members were not allowed. The village was barricaded and no one was allowed in for days.

Also read: CBI’s charge sheet in Hathras gangrape case indicates UP administration’s shoddy handling

On 3 October, the state government suspended five police officers including the Superintendent of Police. On October 4, a CBI probe was ordered

March 2021 incident

A man, accused of sexual assault in July 2018, on March 1 allegedly shot dead the father of the victim in Hathras while out on bail. According to police, an argument started between the family of the survivor and the family of the accused, who was jailed for a month in 2018 after the sexual assault case, which ended in the shooting incident. The survivor’s father succumbed to injuries on the way to the hospital.

Also read: Uproar over Hathras case may be the beginning for a lot of changes in Indian society

Gaurav Sharma, the accused, was jailed in 2018 for a month after the survivor’s father filed a case of molestation against him. He was granted bail by a local court after a month of being arrested.

“The man who died had filed a case against Gaurav Sharma in July 2018 for molestation. The accused went to jail and got bail after a month,” the Hathras Police chief, Vineet Jaiswal said in a video statement released on Twitter.

The survivor, in the video that went viral on social media, was seen crying, as she said in Hindi, “Please give me justice… please give me justice. First, he molested me and now he has shot my father. He had come to our village. There were six to seven people. My father had no enmity against anyone. His (accused) name is Gaurav Sharma.” The woman was outside a police station in the video, demanding justice for her and her father.