Political leaders across party lines on Wednesday expressed grief and outrage over the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district and the way she was cremated. Two weeks ago, the woman was tortured and raped by four men. The woman’s family has said that the police forcibly cremated her body at around 3 am and that they were not allowed to take her body home.
Videos on social media show the family arguing with policemen and weeping as the police insisted on cremating the body without allowing them to take it home.
Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav called the incident India’s “George Floyd” moment. George Floyd was an African-American man who was killed by the Minneapolis police in May, triggering huge anti-racism protests across the United States and the world.
“Even criminals are allowed dignified cremation,” Yadav said in a…