Chandrashekhar Azad
"New Delhi: "For the first time, I have seen how the police operates in Ram Rajya. The police's job across the country is to collect evidence. But the work of the police in India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, is to destroy evidence," said Bhim Army Chief Chandrasekhar Azad on Tuesday.
The Dalit leader's response is in the wake of the Uttar Pradesh government's affidavit in the Supreme Court on the cremation of the Hathras gang rape-murder victim due to fear of law and order problem.
"The victim's family did not give their signatures to take the body away. The victim's family was in Delhi but the body went to UP. How is this possible?," he asked.
The Bhim Army on Tuesday questioned if the rights of anyone could be curtailed on this ground.
"Will the rights of the people be terminated in the name of security? What is the use of law and order then?" asked Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad while talking to IANS.
"When security arrangements can be made for people leaving Delhi, then those who incite violence can also be stopped. Who wants to commit violence? So far, no violence has been resorted to by the victim's family. Will the rights of the people be curtailed due to security?"
The Bhim Army chief - who met the bereaved family in Boolgarhi village in Hathras district on Sunday - also flayed the police's functioning.
"Why was no attention paid to the demands of the aggrieved family? They were ready to accompany the police. It is a crime to take the body away without the consent of the victim's family."
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court, while hearing a PIL in the Hathras gang-rape and murder case, termed the matter "horrible", "shocking" and "extraordinary".
The state had filed an affidavit before the hearing, claiming that the administration persuaded the victim's family to cremate the body at night on September 30 due to possibility of law and order problem in the wake of intelligence inputs.