In the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections, every time the BJP talks of improved security of women and daughters, the Opposition tosses the Hathras incident, where a Dalit girl was allegedly raped and killed by four upper caste men, at it.
While the BJP has replaced its sitting MLA, the political capital of the incident is being cashed by Opposition parties. The lawyer of the victim’s family, Seema Kushwaha, has become the national spokesperson of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and is campaigning in the region.
Pradeep Chaudhary, who shielded RLD chief Chaudhary Jayant Singh from police batons when he went to meet the kin of the victim after the incident, has been fielded by the party from the adjoining Jat-dominated Sadabad constituency.
