Hathras rape case live updates: FIR against Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and 200 Congress workers in Noida

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government over the cremation of the Hathras rape victim, accusing it of “destroying evidence”. Taking to Twitter, the former state chief minister said cremating the rape victim under the administration's "pressure" without the "consent" of her family was against the culture. “This act of destroying evidence is condemnable,” he tweeted. The BJP government not only committed a sin by doing so but also committed a crime, Akhilesh said.

On a day Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath formed a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Hathras 'gangrape', Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Wednesday demanded that the case be handed over to the police of some other state, not ruled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "An SIT from a non-BJP state should be formed to investigate the Hathras incident in an impartial manner. That can be of Rajasthan Police. The Uttar Pradesh Police will file whatever it will be asked to. A UP police officer does not have any power. If he does not listen to his seniors, he might have to face consequences," he told ANI. He added a particular caste has power these days, which has resulted in crimes like Hathras. "The prime accused will walk free because he belongs to the chief minister's caste," Yadav alleged, raising questions over the way the victim was cremated last night amid protest by her family. "The body was not handed over to her family. This was done so to prove that the girl was not raped. This is what they (police) will say later," he further alleged.

AAP MLA Ajay Dutt on Wednesday claimed he was "kicked and slapped" by senior Delhi police officers when he went to meet the family of the Hathras gang rape victim at the Safdarjung hospital here. Delhi police refused to comment on the allegation. Dutt told reporters he was at the hospital and when he sought to know the whereabouts of the victim's body, he was taken to a room and assaulted. "They took me to a room by pulling my collar and there I was slapped and kicked by the SHO, ACP and DCP. If this is the treatment given to an elected representative then think about the common man," Dutt, MLA from Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar assembly constituency, said. He demanded action against the police officials who allegedly assaulted him.

Congress leaders and workers, including those of the party's youth wing, staged a protest against the Yogi Adityanath government near the Uttar Pradesh Bhawan in the national capital on Wednesday demanding justice for the Hathras gang-rape victim. The protesters were stopped by the police who erected a barricade near the UP Bhawan. Some of the Indian Youth Congress protesters were detained by the police and taken to Mandir Marg and Connaught Place police stations, said IYC media incharge Rahul Rao.

The CPI(M) on Wednesday hit out at the Uttar Pradesh government stating that the burial of the gang-rape victim in Hathras without her family's consent was a "blatant denial of justice". In a press statement, the Politburo of the ÇPI(M) said the "barbaric caste based rape" is "reflective of the utter lawlessness" in the northern state. "The CPI(M) strongly condemns the actions of the Adityanath government on the blatant denial of justice to the Hathras dalit rape victim and her family. Her death is the result of the callous approach of the government.

Around 60 Left activists were detained when they tried to stage a protest outside the Uttar Pradesh Bhawan in the national capital against the gang rape and death of a 19-year-old woman in Hathras, police said. The protesters arrived at the UP Bhawan for the protest, but were detained immediately and taken to Mandir Marg police station, they said. (PTI)

The NCW on Wednesday condemned the manner in which the Hathras gang-rape victim was cremated, saying it will seek explanation from the UP Police on it.

Congress and Bhim Army workers held demonstrations in Lucknow and Hathras over the gang-rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman a fortnight ago and demanded stern punishment for the culprits. The woman died in a Delhi hospital on Tuesday and was cremated in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras in the early hours of Wednesday, with her family members alleging the local police forced them to conduct her last rites in the dead of the night.

Women's rights activists Wednesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for cremating the body the 19-year-old Hathras gang-rape victim in the dead of night allegedly without her family's consent and said she was robbed of dignity even in death. Women rights activists called the whole incident appalling and shocking. "This horror gives you the full picture of what this crime is all about,” Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of All India Progressive Women's Association, told PTI.

The NCP on Wednesday criticised the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government over the Hathras gangrape victim's family being allegedly denied the right to perform her last rites. Amid allegations by the 19-year-old victim's family that the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night, Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil termed it as "inhuman and unfortunate."