Lullaby for Loss

In Hathras, a family waits for justice, in Budaun and Sambhal, people wait for dignity and development

- Zaina Azhar Sayeda, Budaun and Sambhal

A long and winding road leads to Bul Garhi village in Hathras. It’s 3 pm. Despite the high temperature, a cool breeze is blowing. Around 150 people are seen sitting

under a crimson tent. A Bhagwat Katha has been organised by one of the families in the village. People are fully immersed in the proceedings. A few heads turn as our car moves towards the famous, or infamous, half-built house just across the road. Three CRPF jawans are standing in the courtyard.

We fill the daily visit logbook at the entrance of the house and walk through the metal scanner. The CRPF jawans let us in. A man emerges from the house, tells us to park our car inside for “safety” and quickly escorts us in.

“People don’t like it when journalists visit us. Sometimes they threaten them,” he says. He points at the tent and says: “The accused and their families are sitting there.”

On September 14, 2020, his sister, a 19-year-old Dalit girl, was allegedly gangraped by four upper-caste men. She sustained severe injuries in her spinal cord and her tongue had allegedly been cut off. She struggled for her life for about two weeks but later succumbed to her injuries in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.

Her death, and her hushed cremation in the dead of the night, sent shockwaves across the nation. Her brothers allege that she was cremated without the consent of the family. They say they don’t even know if it was indeed their sister who was cremated that day. After widespread protests, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).