Hathras Case Timeline: Justice, Court Verdict and Political Impact

The High Court orders the state to relocate the family to Ghaziabad or Noida within three months The family’s relief

In the suo motu case it opened in 2020, the Lucknow bench set aside the state’s 22 February 2025 decision and directed the government to “rehabilitate and relocate the victim’s family in Ghaziabad or Noida, as the case may be, positively within three months” (LiveLaw). It found “unnecessary resistance by the State” to its orders of 26 September 2024, 14 November 2024 and 8 January 2025, and called the February 2025 decision “no decision in the eyes of law” because it did not mention the family’s request.

Once the family is relocated, a member must also get the job ordered on 26 July 2022. The Additional Chief Secretary (Home) must file the compliance affidavit and appear in person if the order is not obeyed. The bench said it had meant to hear the cremation issue on merits but would first secure compliance. The matter is listed for 30 November 2026 (LawBeat).

The Supreme Court declines the family’s plea to be moved to Delhi The family’s relief

The family had asked the Supreme Court to move them from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi for safety, citing the contingency-plan rule under the SC/ST Act. The bench asked why the plea was continuing “when it is pending before the High Court”, disposed of it and requested the High Court to decide the pending application quickly and consider a contingency plan for the family (The NewsMill). The state’s counsel said it had proposed relocation within the state, such as to Aligarh or Kasganj.

The High Court refuses to quash the case against the suspended station officer Police and administration

Dinesh Kumar Verma, the suspended station house officer of Chandpa police station, asked the High Court to quash the CBI’s supplementary charge sheet against him under sections 166A(b)(c) and 167 of the IPC. The court dismissed his petition the week before 28 April 2025, saying the facts “not only indicate lack of sensitivity but dereliction of duty” (LiveLaw).

According to the CBI’s case as summarised in the order, he let the media film the victim inside the police station, recorded a video on his own phone instead of a formal statement, did not send her for a medical examination despite her saying “jabardasti” (force), and let her go to hospital in a shared auto; a false General Diary entry also recorded a woman constable as accompanying her (SCC Times). He was summoned on 9 January 2023 and his discharge plea was rejected on 17 August 2023. The ruling only allows the case to go to trial; it is not a finding of guilt.

The state offers Kasganj, Etah or Aligarh, not the family’s choice The family’s relief

Deciding the family’s application, the state again offered relocation only to Kasganj, Etah or Aligarh, with a job for one member at the chosen place. The High Court later found the decision did not contain “even a cursory reference” to the request for Ghaziabad or Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), where relatives live (LiveLaw).

The family formally applies to move to Ghaziabad or Noida The family’s relief

The family had first asked to be moved to Delhi, then told the High Court, without giving up its plea in the Supreme Court, that it would accept Ghaziabad or Noida. On 14 November 2024 the court told it to apply formally to the District Magistrate of Hathras, and it did so on 2 December 2024 (LiveLaw).

The Supreme Court refuses the state’s appeal against the job and relocation order The family’s relief

Uttar Pradesh challenged the High Court’s July 2022 directions, arguing that whether the victim’s married elder brother was a “dependent” was a question of law. The bench dismissed the plea in the “special facts and circumstances” of the case. “These are facilities provided to the family. We should not interfere. State should not come up in these matters,” the Chief Justice said (LiveLaw).

This was a ruling on relief for the family, not on the criminal case.

The trial verdict: one accused convicted of culpable homicide, three acquitted, no rape conviction Court order or verdict

The special court convicted Sandeep under section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and acquitted Ravi, Luv Kush and Ramu of all charges (The Indian Express). It sentenced Sandeep to life imprisonment and a fine of ₹50,000; his lawyer said the rape and murder charges “could not be proved” (The Tribune).

Both sides said they would appeal to the Allahabad High Court: the family’s lawyer, Seema Kushwaha, said the court had not considered several facts, and Sandeep’s lawyer said he would seek acquittal on the same grounds as the other three (National Herald). AiTimeline could not find a report of an appeal being decided.

The Supreme Court grants bail to journalist Siddique Kappan Politics and press

Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan was arrested with three others on 5 October 2020 while travelling to Hathras, and charged under the anti-terror UAPA with conspiring to incite violence over the case. After almost two years in custody and the Allahabad High Court’s refusal of bail, the Supreme Court granted him bail on 9 September 2022, saying every person has the right to free expression (The Leaflet). He stayed in jail for some time longer because of a separate money-laundering case.

The High Court directs the state to consider a job and relocation for the family The family’s relief

Reading the SC/ST Act and its rules, the court held that the family had a legal basis to claim relocation and a job, and rejected the state’s argument that a job would breach Articles 14 and 16. It noted that the village was mostly upper caste and that the family, even under CRPF guard, faced abuse when they went out, and directed the state to consider moving them outside Hathras and giving a member a job matching their qualifications (LiveLaw).

The CBI charges all four accused with gang rape and murder Investigation

The CBI filed its charge sheet against Sandeep, Ravi, Luv Kush and Ramu under IPC sections 354, 376A, 376D and 302 and the SC/ST Act (The Indian Express). The finding embarrassed senior Uttar Pradesh police officers who had said forensic tests showed no rape. The charge sheet relied on call records and alleged that the assault followed the victim rebuffing Sandeep (The Indian Express).

A charge sheet sets out the prosecution’s case. It is an allegation, not proof of guilt, and the trial court later reached a different result.

The Supreme Court leaves monitoring to the High Court and orders CRPF protection Court order or verdict

Hearing petitions for a court-monitored probe and a trial in Delhi, the court said it saw no need to take the case from the Allahabad High Court, which would monitor the CBI investigation. “Only as a confidence building measure” it directed that the CRPF guard the family and witnesses within a week. It kept the question of moving the trial out of Uttar Pradesh open “if need arises”, and asked the High Court to remove the family’s names from its 12 October order (Supreme Court judgment).

Officials and the family appear before the High Court over the cremation Court order or verdict

The family told the court the cremation took place without their consent and that police presence in the village was so heavy that law and order was no reason for haste. The District Magistrate said the administration had inputs of a “huge law and order problem” the next morning and accepted responsibility for the decision. The family asked for the case to be moved out of the state and for security until the end of the proceedings (Sabrang India).

The CBI takes over the investigation Investigation

The state government itself asked for a CBI investigation. According to the Supreme Court’s judgment, the CBI accepted the request on 10 October 2020 and started investigating on 11 October (Supreme Court judgment). It registered a fresh FIR under sections 307, 376D and 302 of the IPC and the SC/ST Act (SCC Times).

The state tells the Supreme Court the night cremation avoided “large scale violence” Police and administration

The state’s affidavit said the victim was cremated at night “to avoid large scale violence in the morning” after intelligence reports that the issue would be given a “caste/communal colour”. It said all four accused were in Aligarh jail under sections 307 and 376D and the SC/ST Act, and claimed that the medical and forensic reports did not show rape (Deccan Herald).

The state suspends the district police chief and four officers Police and administration

On the preliminary findings of a three-member Special Investigation Team set up on 30 September, the government suspended Hathras Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir, the circle officer, the station house officer, a sub-inspector and a head constable for negligence and lax supervision. It also ordered polygraph and narco tests for the victim’s family as well as the accused and police, an order lawyers said was unconstitutional if compelled (The Leaflet).

The High Court opens a case on the right to dignified last rites Court order or verdict

Acting on its own, the bench registered a public interest case titled “In Re: Right to decent and dignified last rites/cremation”, calling the matter “extremely sensitive”. It summoned the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), the Director General of Police, the ADG (Law and Order), and the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police of Hathras for 12 October, called the family to give its version, and ordered that no “coercion, influence or pressure” be exerted on them (LiveLaw).

A senior police officer says forensic tests show “no rape”; opposition leaders are stopped Politics and press

ADG Prashant Kumar said the forensic report found no sperm in the samples and that “some people twisted the matter to stir caste-based tension”. Experts pointed out that samples collected days after an assault would not show sperm, and the autopsy recorded strangulation and a neck injury (Scroll). The CBI’s charge sheet later alleged gang rape.

The same day, police stopped Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the Yamuna Expressway as they walked towards Hathras, detained them and booked them for breaking prohibitory orders (Scroll). They were allowed through with a small delegation and met the family on 3 October (Deccan Herald).

The body is cremated in the early hours, without the family Police and administration

The body was driven from Delhi to her village and cremated in the early hours of 30 September. The family said it was done without their consent and that they were kept from the last rites. Police officers said the cremation was carried out “as per the wishes of the family” (The Indian Express), and the administration later cited law-and-order inputs. The High Court noted media reports that it took place at about 2 to 2:30 am and that the body was not handed to the family (LiveLaw).

She dies at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi The assault and death

After two weeks in hospital in Aligarh, she was moved to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on 28 September and died the next day (SCC Times). Protests followed across the country, with Dalit organisations, women’s groups and opposition parties demanding an independent investigation.

A magistrate records her statement; gang rape is alleged Investigation

She regained partial consciousness on 16 September and said the first man and two others had assaulted her; this was reported to the Superintendent of Police on 17 September. A magistrate recorded her statement at the hospital on 22 September (SCC Times). By early October all four accused had been arrested under sections 307 and 376D of the IPC and the SC/ST Act (Deccan Herald).

How quickly the police acted on her account, and how the medical evidence was collected, became central questions in the case.

A 19-year-old Dalit woman is attacked in a field The assault and death

She was cutting fodder with her mother when she was attacked; her mother’s shouts made the attacker run. Her brother filed an FIR at about 10:30 am against one man for attempt to murder (section 307 IPC) and under the SC/ST Act (SCC Times). According to the CBI’s later case, she was taken to the police station and then to hospital without a medical examination for sexual assault being ordered.