AP Singh, the lawyer who fought the case of all convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya case, will be defending the accused in the Hathras gangrape case that has set off nationwide protests.

The Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha, an upper caste body, has appointed AP Singh to defend the accused in the Hathras gangrape case. Former Union Minister Raja Manvendra Singh, who is the national president of Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha, has asked AP Singh to fight for the accused in the Hathras case.

In a press release, Singh said that the body has collected a lot of money to pay AP Singh’s fees.

The letter also states that through Hathras case, the SC-ST community is being “misused” to malign the upper caste society, adding that it has particularly hurt the Rajput community.

In Nirbhaya case, the lawyer who fought the case of all the rapists, AP Singh will fight the case as a lawyer on behalf of the accused in the Hathras case.

“In this case, it has been decided that AP Singh will plead the case for the accused party to bring out the truth,” the letter further read.

Lately, the accused in the Hathras gangrape case have been getting support from upper caste groups who are demanding an “unbiased” probe. Last week, workers affiliated with the Savarn Samaj (Upper caste society) staged a dharna in Hathras demanding justice for the men accused of brutalising the 19-year-old Dalit girl.

A panchayat was also held in favour of the four accused who are in police custody.

Calls were raised during the dharna for an unbiased probe into the matter by the special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Uttar Pradesh government. If our children are guilty, then they should be punished, one demonstrator said adding, “The innocent should not be framed and the guilty should not be spared.”

On Sunday also, scores of people held a meeting outside the house of a former BJP MLA in Hathras where they defended the accused and demanded registration of an FIR against her family members.

Heavy police force was deployed in the vicinity of the residence of former BJP MLA Rajvir Singh Pehalvan, located around 8-9 kilometres from the victim’s village.

However, one of the organisers of the meeting and Pehalvan’s son Manveer Singh denied that the gathering comprised members from the upper castes and said they were from “different sections of society”.