HC directs UP govt to give job to kin of Hathras rape victim

Lucknow, July 28: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to consider giving employment, within three months in a government department or undertaking, to a family member of Hathras case victim, who was allegedly raped and murdered in September 2020.

The bench ordered the state authorities that they must abide by their promise made to the victim's family in writing on September 30, 2020, to give employment to one family member.

A bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh further directed the state authorities to consider relocation of the victim's family outside Hathras but within Uttar Pradesh, keeping in mind the family's social and economic rehabilitation and also the educational needs of the children of the family, within a period of six months.

The bench passed the order on a PIL which was registered suo motu as "Right to Decent and Dignified Last Rites/Cremation" in 2020 after the victim's last rites were performed in haste after midnight, allegedly without the consent of the family.

The victim's family had demanded that it needed a job and rehabilitation outside Hathras.

The victim's family submitted before the court that after the incident, brothers and father of the victim were rendered jobless and the family had meagre agricultural land for its subsistence.

The family of the victim also pleaded the court that due to the incident, it was difficult for them to lead a normal life in Hathras.

Passing the order, the bench of Allahabad HC considered that the state government had granted employment to the spouses of deceased Vinay Tiwari and Manish Gupta, who were killed by police personnel and also gave them a huge compensation amount.

In its order, the bench also directed the Hathras District Magistrate to provide the travelling and maintenance expenses to the witnesses deposing in the trial.