Unnao Rape Victim’s Family Agrees to Go Ahead With Last Rites

Accused Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam Trivedi & Shubham Trivedi have been arrested.

Hundreds joined in the protest march led by Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

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The Unnao rape victim’s family members, who had earlier said that they won’t perform her last rites until UP CM Yogi Adityanath visited their village, have agreed to go ahead with the rituals after a negotiation with Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Mukesh Meshram and other senior police officials.

Meshram told reporters that the family will be provided security and a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

Relatives of the aggrieved family have reached the woman’s native village, who will be buried amid heavy deployment of police and personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC).

Leaders of the Samajwadi Party are present in the village. After the last rites, they will participate in a condolence programme at the district headquarters.

The sister of the deceased rape victim had earlier said that her family will not perform the last rites unless Adityanath came to their village personally and assures them of strict action against the accused.

“I personally want to speak to Yogi Adityanath,” the sister said. She also claimed that the victim was about to get a government job. The sister demanded government job for one of the family members and immediate capital punishment for the accused. When the victim’s sister was told that awarding capital punishment is the job of the court, she asked “Who will make the rounds of the court?”.

When the Unnao district administration proposed that the aggrieved family can meet the chief minister in Lucknow, the family members rejected the proposal, reported news agency PTI.

‘Will Get Justice When All Accused Are Killed’

The brother of the Unnao rape victim on Saturday, 6 December, said his sister will get justice when all those accused of brutalising her will go to the place "where she has gone."

"She asked me, ‘brother please save me’. I am very sad that I could not save her. My only demand is that the five men deserve death and nothing less," he told reporters.

He said the men involved in the incident should be killed either by encounter or by hanging, adding that they do not have any right to live.

“We will go to Bihar from Delhi. She has already been burnt by the accused persons and now we will bury her,” he said.

The 23-year-old rape victim from Unnao, airlifted and admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi after she was set ablaze by five persons including two men accused of raping her, died on Friday night.

She was on her way to Raebareli to attend a court hearing in the rape case filed by her when the crime occurred.

Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi, who set her afire, have been arrested by the UP Police.  Officials told PTI that Shivam and Shubham Trivedi had abducted and raped her in December 2018. The FIR, however, was registered in March.