New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by the Uttar Pradesh government challenging the Allahabad High Court's order to consider giving a job to a family member of the Hathras victim and to relocate the family from Hathras.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala expressed surprise at the Uttar Pradesh government coming in an appeal against the High Court's order.
"These are facilities provided to the family. We should not interfere. The state should not come up in these matters," CJI Chandrachud told the State government's counsel. "Whether the elder married brother could be regarded as a dependent of the victim was a question of law to be considered," the state government told the top court.
The counsel appearing for the State told the apex court that it is ready to relocate the family but the family wants to be shifted to Noida, Ghaziabad or Delhi. The appeal was filed against the directions passed by the High Court on July 26, 2022, in which the court had taken note of the socio-economic backwardness of the family and the rights granted by the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to consider giving employment to one of the family members of the victim.
It had also given directions to relocate the family elsewhere within the State. A 19-year-old succumbed to her injuries at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital on September 29, 2020, after being assaulted and allegedly gang-raped in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras on September 14.
In the first week of March, a trial court in Uttar Pradesh acquitted three out of four accused in the Harthras rape and murder case. The SC/ST court convicted the prime accused Sandeep Singh on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), while the remaining three accused were acquitted. (ANI)
