On Saturday, family members of late Yunus Khan who was a key witness in the alleged murder of Unnao rape victim¡¯s father staged a protest in front of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath¡¯s residence for exhuming his body.
The Unnao police decided to conduct a post-mortem examination of Khan after the rape victim¡¯s uncle alleged that Khan was poisoned to death as a part of the conspiracy. Khan¡¯s wife Shabeena and 13 other family members reached Lucknow to express their disapproval of the process.
¡°Exhumation of the body has hurt our sentiments. It is against our tradition. Why are the police are not understanding that he (Khan) died at home and everyone in the village attended his funeral There is nothing fishy or suspicious,¡± she said, reported The Hindustan Times.
PTI
Superintendent of police, Unnao, Harish Kumar was accompanied by Shahr Qazi of the district and Maulana Nasir and said they were acting in accordance with law, following all legal processes.
On August 18, Khan died under mysterious circumstances. Though Shabeena claimed that he died a natural death following a prolonged illness. Khan belonged to the Makhi village of Unnao and owned a general merchant shop. DNA reported that Yunus fell ill suddenly and he was buried even before he could be taken to the hospital for treatment.
The police officials initiated a probe into his death following a tweet by Congress Party President, Rahul Gandhi questioning the sequence of events in which Khan succumbed to his death.
¡°The autopsy is important to bring out the truth; they should not obstruct the process. We have given assurance that the body will again be buried with full honour and respect.¡± said sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Hasangunj, Suraj Yadav.
Photo: Reuters
Earlier, Shabeena even alleged that the victim¡¯s uncle had tried to bribe her and Yunus to accept Rs 8 lakh against to help him build his case against Atul Sengar, charge sheeted for beating the rape victim¡¯s father to death.
The Unnao rape case grabbed media attention all over the world when the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl in June 2017 came to light in April 2018. A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep Singh Sengar is the main accused in the rape case. His brother, Atul Sengar is the second accused of the alleged murder of rape victim¡¯s father who was beaten to death by the gangsters. The rape survivor even tried to immolate herself in front of Adityanath¡¯s house in April this year.
According to Reuters, there were 40,000 rapes reported in India in 2016 and the victims were children in 40 percent of those cases.