A man who was out on a bail after being arrested briefly in a molestation case allegedly killed the victim’s father on Monday in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district. According to the Hathras Police, the incident occurred when an argument between the family of the survivor and the accused’s family took place outside a village temple. The argument took a violent turn when the accused shot the survivor’s father.

The Hathras Police gave a detailed statement on Twitter after the incident. According to the Hathras Police, Gaurav Sharma, the accused, was jailed for a brief period in 2018 after a sexual harassment case was filed against him by the survivor’s father. The local court granted Sharma bail and he had been outside the prison ever since.

In a video statement released by the Hathras Police on Twitter, Vineet Jaiswal, Hathras Police Chief said, “The victim of killing had filed a case against Gaurav Sharma in July 2018 for sexual harassment. Sharma went to jail for a month and got bail. Since then, Sharma’s family and the survivor’s family remained hostile towards each other. The main accused’s wife and aunt had gone to the temple village to pray were the daughters of the man who was shot were present. The women indulged in an argument. The argument was intervened by Gaurav Sharma and the father of the two daughters. After this, Sharma was filled with rage and called some men from his family to the spot and shot the father of the daughters.”

Meanwhile, videos of local citizens showed the survivor crying outside the police station. The survivor can be heard saying, “Please give me justice. First, he sexually harassed me and now he has killed my father. There were 6-7 more people. My father had no enmity for anyone. His (the culprit’s) name is Gaurav Sharma”

The survivor took to reporters and told how Sharma threatened her father to take back the case and how he refused to do so. “My younger sister and I had gone to the local temple… he and his wife and two relatives were there, and they started passing comments on us. So we left the place,” she continued.

The survivor said how she went back to her field where her father was harvesting potatoes. Later, the culprit came to the field and started misbehaving with her again. When the father intervened and tried making the culprit leave, he threatened the survivor before leaving. Later, the culprit with a few more men came back and shot his father.

“Officials directed to invoke National Security Act.”: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the Uttar Pradesh police officials to invoke the National Security Act against the accused in the murder of the survivor’s father. The Chief Minister’s Office issued a statement saying, “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directs officials to take strict action in the matter. He has also given directions to invoke the National Security Act against all the accused involved in the case.”

Hathras was in the news last year when a 20-year-old Dalit woman was raped by 4 men from the upper caste community. The incident shook the entire nation and was a grim reminder of caste-based atrocities still prevalent in India. The case was also known for the way it was handled by the local police. Allegedly, the victim’s family was not allowed in the late-evening funeral carried by the local police.

The accused men in the case were charged with gang-rape and murder after the Central Bureau of Investigation carried out the investigation. The accused men were also charged with the SC/ST Act (Prevention of Atrocities).