Hathras Case: Allahabad HC Directs UP Govt To Relocate Victim’s Family To Ghaziabad Or Noida Within 3 Months
Allahabad High Court directs relocation of Hathras victim’s family.
For nearly six years after the Hathras case, the victim’s family has remained caught in a dispute over where it should be rehabilitated. The Allahabad High Court has now directed the Uttar Pradesh government to relocate the family to either Ghaziabad or Noida within three months, setting aside a State decision that had limited the family’s options to Aligarh, Kasganj or Etah.
A bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Jaspreet Singh passed the order in a suo motu public interest litigation concerning the family’s rights to rehabilitation and the dignified last rites of the victim.
Why did the High Court order relocation to Ghaziabad or Noida?
The high court said the State had failed to properly consider the family’s request to be relocated to Ghaziabad or Noida, despite being specifically directed to do so.
Court had first directed rehabilitation and relocation of the family in its July 26, 2022 order. The State later offered the family three districts: Aligarh, Etah and Kasganj. However, the family wanted to be relocated to Delhi and subsequently said it would also accept Ghaziabad or Noida, where other family members live.
On November 14, 2024, the high court directed the family to make a formal application for relocation to Ghaziabad or Noida. The family submitted the application on December 2, 2024. The State then considered it and passed a decision on February 22, 2025.
But that decision again offered only Kasganj, Etah or Aligarh.
The high court said this was not what it had asked the State to consider.
“When the high court issues a direction for considering rehabilitation/relocation of the victim's family to Ghaziabad or Noida, then a considered decision is required to be taken with due and proper application of mind,” the bench said.
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It added that “no prudent person, much less a Judge” could say that the State's decision showed such consideration.
What did the court say about the State’s decision?
Court was particularly critical of the February 22, 2025 decision, saying it did not even mention the family's request for Ghaziabad or Noida.
“The decision, if at all it is a decision, is also in contempt of the orders passed by the high court earlier,” the bench observed, saying the State had “virtually” brushed aside both the court's order and the family's request.
Court also noted that the State appeared to be showing “unnecessary resistance” to the consideration it had ordered.
It said the State's response gave credence to the family's allegation that the government was treating the proceedings as an adversarial litigation and was “adamant not to grant statutory benefits” ordered by the high court.
What happens to the family now?
The high court set aside the February 22, 2025 decision and directed the State government to rehabilitate and relocate the family in Ghaziabad or Noida “positively within three months”.
Court also directed that, once rehabilitation takes place, one family member must be provided a job, in accordance with its earlier July 26, 2022 order and the State's own undertaking.
The compliance affidavit must be filed by the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Uttar Pradesh. If the order is not complied with, the officer will have to personally appear before the high court on the next date.
The bench said it had decided to intervene again because of what it called “exceptional circumstances”, including the State's “intransigence” and repeated non-compliance with its earlier orders.
Court clarified that it would first ensure compliance with its rehabilitation directions and thereafter continue with the final hearing of the case. The matter has been listed for November 30, 2026.
Case Title: Suo-Moto In re Right to Decent and Dignified Last Rites/Cremat v. State of U.P. through Additional Chief Secretary, Home & Ors.
Bench: Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Jaspreet Singh
Order Date: August 24, 2026