A letter written by Sandeep, the man who was the first accused in the Hathras case, claims that he knew the victim and that her family objected to their relationship.
In the letter, which bears thumb impressions of Sandeep and the other three accused, Sandeep writes, “She belonged to my village. I was friends with her. Sometimes, she would talk to me over the phone. Her family did not like it.”
The veracity of the letter has not been verified by the police.
He has also said that on the day of the incident, he had met the deceased and had returned home after that. It was later that he came to know that she had been beaten by her brother and mother.
“They have sent me to jail on false charges,” he said in the letter addressed to the district’s superintendent of police.
Rakesh, the father of one of the other accused, Ramkumar (alias Ramu), said, “It was common knowledge in the village that the deceased and Sandeep knew each other. This was not acceptable to the families, and Sandeep’s family had sent him away. On the day of the incident, he had come to the village and was talking to her when her mother noticed them.”
Rakesh has also alleged that while his son was working at the chiller unit of a local dairy plant when the incident happened, one of the other accused was dragged into it only because his mother had offered water to the deceased as she lay injured in the field.
On Thursday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, “Creating a narrative that defames a woman’s character and holding her somehow responsible for crimes committed against her is revolting and regressive. A heinous crime has been committed at Hathras, leaving a 20-year-old dalit woman dead…. Her body has been burned without the participation or consent of her family. SHE DESERVES JUSTICE NOT SLANDER”.