Lucknow: Police in Uttar Pradesh are on the lookout for a man who is accused of shooting dead the father of a woman he allegedly molested three years ago. The murder took place in the Naujurpur village of Hathras, where the victim lived.
In a video that has gone viral, the woman is seen standing outside a police station, pleading for justice.
The accused, identified as Gaurav Sharma, allegedly shot the woman’s father after an argument Monday. It was the father who filed a complaint against Sharma when he allegedly molested his daughter in 2018. Sharma subsequently spent a brief stint in jail before coming out on bail.
“An argument between the family of the survivor and the accused’s family outside a village temple ended up in the shooting incident, leading to the death of the survivor’s father on the way to hospital,” police said in a statement Tuesday.
Speaking to ThePrint, Hathras Deputy Superintendent of Police (Sadar) Ruchi Gupta confirmed that a case has been registered against Sharma and three of his friends in the matter.
The FIR invokes sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting), and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the IPC, among others. Police, Gupta said, have arrested one of the accused while the search is on for others, including Sharma.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Tuesday directed officials to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) against all the four accused.
Also Read: Hathras Dalit woman, who was gang-raped and assaulted, dies at Safdarjung Hospital
‘Father had no enmity with everyone’
In the viral video, the woman, seemingly beside herself with grief, is seen crying, “Please give me justice… please give me justice. First, he molested me and now he has shot my father.”
Sharma, she said, came to their village Monday. “My father had no enmity with anyone,” she is heard saying.
Talking to the media, she said she and her father were in their fields to harvest potatoes when the accused arrived. “He (the main accused) started commenting on me again. I then countered him. He and his relatives then misbehaved with me. My father somehow made them leave. Two hours later, around 3.30 pm, he returned in a car… Around 4-5 people came and shot my father.”
The two families, it is learnt, have known each other for several years. There was speculation on social media that the accused is linked to the Samajwadi Party but the party has dismissed it.
हाथरस में सपा नेता गौरव सोंगरा ने बेटी न छेड़ने देने पर पिता को गोलियों से भूना ।
— Abhijat Mishra (@AbhijatMishr) March 2, 2021
Distressed @Shehzad_Ind by your tweet ,murderer arrested in 2018 ,got bail,not arrested after complaint of our sister, he killed her father,all in the present government ,so their responsibility? criminal was not office bearer of @samajwadiparty,expect better from you #Haathras
— Juhie Singh (@juhiesingh) March 2, 2021
Also Read: Hathras woman’s family says they know what would have saved her — ‘being a Pandit or Thakur’