Latest LIVE: UP CM suspends SP, DSP in Hathras case; narco tests planned

A protest meet was planned at India Gate today for the 20-year-old from Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, who was gang raped and brutally murdered. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

Large gathering are banned today in and around India Gate in central Delhi. However, a total of 100 people can be at Jantar Mantar, 3 km from India Gate, if they have permission of the "competent authority". "No gathering is permissible around India Gate due to imposition of Section 144 CrPC," the Delhi Police tweeted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today inaugurate the 'VAIBHAV Summit' -- a platform which brings together overseas and resident Indian researchers and academicians. The aim of the summit is to bring Indian-origin luminaries in academic institutes and research organisations across the world and resident counterparts on a single platform to debate collaboration mechanisms for strengthening academic and science and technology (S&T) base in India for global development, according to a Prime Minister's Office statement.

Farmers' organisations have announced a 'Bharat Bandh' today against the Farm Bills, which have been passed by Parliament. They have also decided to converge at the memorial of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Delhi to register their protest.

Claiming that there have been no updates from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, the late actor's friends -- Ganesh Hiwaker and Ankit Acharya -- announced that they were going on a hunger strike from today to demand justice in the matter.

Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Yesso Naik will inaugurate a naturopathy hospital at a tribal hamlet in Maharashtra on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti today.

Stay tuned for the latest news of the day.

3:14 AM

Now in Madhya Pradesh: `Rape victim' ends life, family alleges cops did not act

A 32-year-old Dalit woman, who was allegedly raped by three men four days ago, committed suicide on Friday in Madhya Pradesh's Narsinghpur district, police said.
 

The woman's family alleged that the police did not register a complaint in the last three days. on Friday, the police arrested three persons, including one of the alleged rapists.
 

Late in the evening, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered that a case be registered against the local police official, and two senior officials be shunted out.
 

The shocking incident, which comes in the wake of Hathras rape-and-murder case, took place in Gadarwara area of the district.
 

On Friday, assistant sub-inspector Mishrilal Kodapa of Gotitoriya police outpost was suspended for laxity in duty, said Gadarwara Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) S R Yadav.
 

"We registered a case today against Arvind and Parsu Choudhary, who belong to the same community as the victim, and another accused Anil Rai for gang-rape," Yadav informed.
 

"Arvind Choudhary has been arrested and a hunt has been launched for the other two," he added.
 

The trio allegedly raped the woman on Monday when she was out in a field to cut grass for the cattle.
 

The SDOP, however, said the woman's two nieces who saw the incident stated that the accused caught hold of her and teased her, but did not confirm that she was raped. When they raised alarm, the accused fled, the two girls told police.
 

The woman and her husband orally complained to the police on the same day but the complaint was not clear, Yadav claimed.
 

On Friday, when the woman went to fetch water from a tap, Leela Bai, another woman, allegedly taunted her, after which the victim went home and hanged herself, the police officer said.
 

Her husband alleged in his complaint that they were trying to get a case registered for the last three days but to no avail.

3:10 AM

What difference suspending some pawns would make: Priyanka on Hathras case

After the Hathras SP and four other policemen were suspended over the gangrape-murder case of a Dalit woman, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday asked what difference suspending "some pawns" would make and demanded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's resignation.
 

The Uttar Pradesh government suspended Hathras SP Vikrant Vir and four other policemen on Friday over their handling of the gangrape-murder case.

Tagging Adityanath, Priyanka Gandhi asked what difference suspending "some pawns" would make.
 

"On whose order Hathras victim, her family, was made to suffer. The phone records of Hathras DM and SP should be made public. The chief minister should not back off from his responsibility," the Congress general secretary said in a tweet in Hindi.
 

The country is watching, chief minister Adityanath tender your resignation, she said.
 

Besides Vikrant Vir, the other suspended policemen are Circle Officer Ramshabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub-Inspector Jagveer Singh and Head Constable Mahesh Pal, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said.
 

Later, in another tweet, Priyanka Gandhi tagged a media group's statement over the leak of a purported telephone conversation between a journalist and the victim's brother.
 

Again tagging Adityanath, she tweeted, "RESIGN. You have no moral right to continue as Chief Minister of UP."
 

3:10 AM

Police register case against 8 people for flouting norms and protesting near Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi

A case was registered against eight people on Friday for allegedly violating section 144 of CrPC and protesting near Vigyan Bhawan against the new farm laws, the Hathras gang rape case and the detention of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Delhi Police said.
 

They are members of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Congress, the police said.
 

According to the police, the protesters assembled near Vigyan Bhawan and then moved towards the house of BJP president J P Nadda.
 

Around 12.15 pm, 12-15 members of the outfit led by Surendra Solanki started moving towards the house of the BJP president from Vigyan Bhawan, a senior police officer said.
 

They were stopped and informed about prohibitory orders imposed under section 144 of CrPC and directed to disperse immediately and maintain social distancing, the officer said.
 

However, they started protesting, following which they were removed from the area, and a case under section 188 of IPC and provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act and the Disaster Management Act was registered against them, he said.
 

3:09 AM

Cong leaders stage midnight protest at Goa hotel to meet Javadekar, detained

Several Goa Congress leaders, including the pradesh committee vice president, were detained Friday night after they protested in the lobby of a hotel demanding they be allowed to meet Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
 

Javadekar is in Goa to attend a series of meetings on the new farm bills Saturday. The Congress leaders reached the hotel around midnight and demanded to meet the Union minister over the Mahadayi river water dispute with Karnataka.
 

When the hotel management refused them permission, they sat on a protest in the lobby. Later, the leaders were detained and taken to a police station in Panaji.

The leaders including Goa Pradesh Youth Congress Committee President Varad Mardolkar, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Vice President Sankalp Amonkar, office-bearer Janardhan Bhandari.
 

Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar tweeted, “JUNGLE RAJ in Goa -- @INCGoa delegation led by Vice President @SankalpAmonkar, @JanaBhandariGoa @Varadmardolkar @AdvArchitNaik @RautMeghashyam @SudinNaikGoa & 10 others arrested by @DGP_Goa for seeking appointment with @PrakashJavdekar & waiting to meet him in hotel lobby in Panjim.” Mardolkar said the Congress delegation wanted to meet Javadekar to question him on the Central government's "silence" over Mahadayi river water diversion by Karnataka.
 

"Javadekar has failed the State of Goa as far as interest of Mahadayi is concerned,” he said, claiming that the Union minister was also responsible for granting permissions for several environmentally hazardous projects, which were being opposed by people.
 

1:01 AM

GIC to invest Rs 5,512.5 crore in Reliance Retail

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC will invest 55.12 billion rupees ($752.08 million) in Reliance Industries' retail arm, the Indian conglomerate said on Saturday.
 

GIC's investment will translate into a 1.22% equity stake in Reliance Retail on a fully diluted basis.

11:09 PM

Hathras rape case: Delhi Police register case against Jantar Mantar protesters under Disaster Management Act

11:04 PM

Media barred from Hathras rape victim's village

Uttar Pradesh government on Friday suspended the Hathras SP and four other police officers over their handling of the gangrape-murder case even as local authorities made clear that the Dalit victim's village was off-limits for the media.
 

A Trinamool Congress delegation was stopped from meeting the victim's family and its members alleged they were pushed around by officials.
 

“In view of the current situation, no political representatives or media personnel would be allowed entry into the village till the SIT (Special Investigation Team) completes its probe,” Hathras Additional Superintendent of Police Prakash Kumar told reporters.
 

The Yogi Adityanath government continued to draw flak over the alleged gang-rape and the subsequent death of the 19-year-old woman.
 

Samajwadi Party workers took out a protest in Lucknow, and were lathi-charged by police. There were protests also in Aligarh, Mathura and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.

11:02 PM

Samajwadi Party stages silent protest against Hathras incident in Mathura

Samajwadi Party (SP) held a silent protest in Mathura on Friday against the alleged gang-rape and assault of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh.
 

The two-hour silent protest took place in front of the Gandhi statue in the Vikas Bazar area here.
 

"The incident, right from the gang rape to the cremation of the body in the dead of the night, is proof that in order to hide its failure, the Yogi Adityanath government has adopted inhuman ways," Sanjai Lathar, national spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party, said.
 

Dalits are unsafe under the present state government, and the Hathras incident shows that the law and order in the state is in the hands of goons, he claimed.

The SP leader demanded stern action against erring officials.
 

The young woman succumbed at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital to the severe injuries she suffered in the assault by four upper-caste men in her village in Hathras on September 14. The four have been arrested.
 

11:01 PM

Hathras protest: Entry, exit gates of some Delhi metro stations closed; reopened after 1 hr

In view of the protest at Jantar Mantar over the Hathras gang rape and murder case, the Delhi Metro closed the entry and exit gates of a few stations for an hour on Friday, officials said.
 

"Entry & exit gate for Janpath is closed. Trains will not be halting at this station.
 

Exit gates for Rajiv Chowk and Patel Chowk are closed," the DMRC tweeted.
 

All three stations fall in the vicinity of the protest venue in central Delhi.
 

The protest was initially supposed to be held at India Gate but was later shifted to Jantar Mantar owing to the prohibitory orders in place in the Rajpath area.
 

The DMRC tweeted an hour later that all closed entry and exit gates at these stations have been opened again.

10:50 PM

Hathras SP, four other cops suspended over Dalit woman's gangrape-murder case

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday suspended Hathras SP Vikrant Vir and four other policemen over the gangrape-murder case of the Dalit woman, a senior official said.
 

The official said the action has been taken on the basis of a preliminary inquiry report of the SIT.
 

Besides Vikrant Vir, the other suspended policemen are Circle Officer Ramshabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub-Inspector Jagveer Singh and Head Constable Mahesh Pal, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said.
 

Shamli SP Vineet Jaiswal has been transferred to Hathras, he said.
 

Another senior official said the SIT constituted by the chief minister to probe into the case of alleged murder and gangrape submitted its first report on Friday.

The official said besides the suspended policemen, all those connected with the case will have to undergo narco and polygraph tests.
 

The chief minister had constituted the SIT on Wednesday.
 

Led by Home Secretary Bhagwan Swarup, it has DIG Chandraprakash and Agra PAC Commandant Poonam as its members. The SIT was asked to submit its report in seven days.

10:46 PM

Hathras gang-rape case a ‘small issue', victim was not raped: UP Minister

Uttar Pradesh minister Ajeet Singh Pal on Friday described the alleged gang-rape of a 19-year-old Hathras woman and her subsequent death a fortnight later as a “small issue”, asserting that the Dalit teen was not raped at all.
 

“Doctors have already made it clear that the Hathras woman was not raped,” Pal, the UP minister of state for Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement which is set to further aggravate the controversy.
 

The minister also described the incident as a “small issue”, asserting that the law is taking its course in the case.
 

“We can do nothing if the Opposition is attacking (the government). They have no issue and are raking up such small issues intermittently. They are just raising issues and doing nothing in the public interest,” the minister told reporters when asked about the Oppositions' attack against the government over the issue.
 

On being countered by media persons if the Hathras gang-rape case was a “small issue” according to him, he hastened to add, “I am saying the matter is being investigated. Doctors have said nothing of this kind happened. Whatever is found in the investigation would be made public.” UP's Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar too had on Thursday said that the forensic examination on the woman did not indicate rape.
 

"The report of the FSL has also come. It says clearly that samples did not contain sperm. It makes clear that there was no rape or gang-rape," Kumar had said on Thursday in Lucknow.
 

But legal experts debunked the theory, telling PTI that the presence of sperm on the victim's body cannot be an essential ingredient to prove the crime.
 

In a replication of the December 2012 Nirbhaya case horrors, the Dalit teen was allegedly sexually assaulted by four men on September 14 in a Hathras village and admitted to the AMU's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh in a critical condition.
 

10:37 PM

Jantar Mantar buzzes with activity as protesters gather to seek justice for Hathras gang-rape victim

Jantar Mantar in central Delhi buzzed with activity on Friday as the venue witnessed perhaps its biggest protest ever since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, with hundreds of protesters gathering there to demand justice for the woman who was allegedly gang-raped in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh.
 

Social distancing norms and wearing of masks went for a toss as some of the protesters raised slogans without wearing them.
 

Police kept on asking participants to wear masks and maintain distance through announcements even as the number of protesters swelled.
 

A sea of people from different walks of life -- students, activists, citizens and political leaders -- attended the protest which was initially supposed to be held at India Gate but was later shifted to Jantar Mantar owing to the prohibitory orders in place around Rajpath area.
 

"They are silencing the family but they would not be able to silence the people. I am scared due to the Covid-19 pandemic but raising my voice to demand justice for the Hathras victim is more important. That is what forced me to step out at this time," said Neha Dwivedi, one of the protesters.
 

Another participant Shefali Verma, who is a mother of an 18-year-old woman, said, "I am scared for the safety of my daughter. I know we are fighting a pandemic but it was important that today we come out to raise our voice against another pandemic, which is rape. We want justice for that daughter, who did not even get dignity in her death." Another woman, accompanying Verma said despite a surge in coronavirus cases in the national capital, she came out because it was essential.
 

"Only when we will unite to raise our voice, will it have some impact. We are living in difficult times, when we are fighting the pandemic and it is scary to be out at this time but it is the need of the hour," she said.
 

People also held a candlelight vigil for the Hathras gang-rape victim as slogans demanding the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth and seeking justice for the victim rent the air.
 

Left leaning student activists carrying ''dhaplis'' also raised slogans against the UP government.
 

The police had said gathering of up to 100 people is permissible at Jantar Mantar and that too with prior permission of the competent authority.
 

10:35 PM

Mamata to lead protest march against Hathras rape on Saturday

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will lead a protest march in the city on Saturday to protest against the alleged gang rape and death of the 19-year-old woman at Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, TMC sources said.
 

TMC sources said the decision was taken after a delegation of the party was stopped from meeting the family members of the rape victim.
 

This will be the first time in six months since the Covid-19 induced nationwide lockdown in March that the TMC supremo will hit the streets.
 

The rally will start at 4 pm on Saturday and the participants will walk from Birla Planetarium to Mahatma Gandhi's statue in central Kolkata, they said.
 

Banerjee had on Thursday likened the cremation of the woman at night to the 'Agni Pariksha' of Goddess Sita in the Ramayana.
 

The Trinamool Congress on Friday alleged that its woman MP Pratima Mandal was manhandled and pushed by a senior district official when she was on her way to Hathras to meet the family of the alleged rape victim.
 

The party also shared several video clips showing its leader in Rajya Sabha, Derek O'Brien being pushed to the ground by police personnel a few kms away from the victim's house and Mandal being manhandled by the administrative official on the road.
 

The TMC delegation comprised MPs O'Brien, Mandal, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and former parliamentarian Mamata Thakur.
 

''The BJP is always quick to point fingers at opposition-ruled states. But now everybody has gone silent all of a sudden. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is busy with stopping the opposition leaders from meeting the victim's family, rather than ensuring justice to them,'' TMC MP Saugata Roy said.
 

The BJP unit of West Bengal asked the TMC to stop ''politicising the death'' and take a look at its track record when it came to tackling crimes against women.
 

8:58 PM

UP govt suspends SP, DSP involved in Hathras incident; to conduct narco tests

In the Hathras case, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed to suspend the SP, DSP, Inspector and some others officials, based on the preliminary investigation report. Narco polygraph tests of SP and DSP to also be conducted: Chief Minister's Office. 

8:22 PM

Entry & Exit gate of Janpath metro station is open: Delhi Metro