Outrage across country in protest at gang-rapes of two girls and death of father in police custody
An Indian court has ordered the arrest of a ruling party politician accused of gang-raping a teenager and beating her father to death as protests spread over this case and another involving the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl.
The high court in Allahabad city on Friday ordered the arrest of Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a member of the Uttar Pradesh state parliament with the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), after days of public outrage over the alleged crime, his defiant response and the apparent apathy of police.
Singh Sengar and his brother Atul Singh Sengar have been accused of raping a 15-year-old girl last June in a town in his constituency near the state capital, Lucknow.
Man who accused Indian politician of raping daughter dies in custody Read more
The family tried unsuccessfully for months to persuade police to register a case against the powerful local official until last Tuesday, when the family alleges he and a group barged into their home, molested the girl again, tied her father to a tree and beat him.
The case came to national prominence this week when the teenager tried to burn herself alive outside the residence of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. The next day, her father, who had been detained by local police after he was alleged assaulted, died in custody.
At the same time, details of the alleged rape and murder of Asifa Bano, eight, in Kathua, in Jammu and Kashmir state, became national news after a group of Hindu lawyers tried to barricade a courtroom in the district to stop police from lodging charges.
The protesters, who were backed by state BJP ministers, allege the investigation into the alleged attack on the girl, who is a member of a nomadic Muslim tribe, was biased because some of the officers involved were also Muslim.
Details of the crime – the child was allegedly confined in a Hindu temple in January, repeatedly raped for three days and then killed with a rock – as well as the sight of Hindu protesters advocating the release of the accused men sparked revulsion and protests across India on Friday.
The refusal of the Narendra Modi, a staunch Hindu nationalist, to comment has fuelled the anger. The prime minister finally addressed the alleged crimes on Friday evening, telling an event in Delhi they “cannot be part of a civilised society”.
“As a country, as a society we all are ashamed of it,” he said. “I want to assure the country that no culprit will be spared, complete justice will be done. Our daughters will definitely get justice.”
Muslim rape-murder case in India disrupted by Hindu groups Read more
The previous evening, hundreds of people attended a candlelit vigil for both victims at Delhi’s India Gate monument. The monument was the scene of protests more than five years ago over the gang-rape and murder of Jyoti Singh, a student who came to be known as Nirbhaya – Hindi for fearless.
“We are totally questioning what progress we’ve made,” said Poonam Muttreja, an activist who has founded several organisations for women’s rights and health. “After Nirbhaya we got strong new laws, but they don’t seem to be working for the weak, only the powerful.”
Protests have been held across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and West Bengal states, and another large demonstration is planned for the capital on Sunday.
TapDancingAssassin on April 14th, 2018 at 15:02 UTC »
Amid all the ‘fuck India’ sentiment on this thread, let me, as an Indian let you know that the ‘fuck India’ sentiment is stronger with us right now than any of you.
Im not going to bring up incidents that showcase heinous occurrences like these in the US or Europe. Because thats not what this is about. Much like rest of the world, it is starting to dawn on us that with the advent of some of the most extreme polarization the world has ever seen, a major populous coming from both sides of the divide seem to have lost their humanity. This has taken on a whole new face in India where the bipartisanship has essentially diluted down to a heavy communal divide.
You think its bad to have ideological differences on issues like abortion, guns and vaccinations? Now think what would happen if no sensible discourse was permitted in the public forum and was completely superseded by an uncouth, useless debate on religion. This is the face of Indian politics currently. Both sides have victimized themselves and have been riled up by what they see as public discourse so much that some vile assholes have been brainwashed completely. And the product is in front of you.
But do we think what’s happening is normal? No. Absolutely fucking not. People from all over the country are rallying and uniting to speed up the judicial procedure to convict these psychopaths and enforce capital punishment. There are some morons with the “fake news” conspiracy, or even some evil people who are So communally brainwashed that they are trying to justify these acts by citing the political climate of Jammu and Kashmir as a reason. Let it be known that these guys are as deplorable to us as they are to you.
These are trying times for our Nation, and will probably be a defining moment in our history. So as outsiders, if your solution is to generalize all 1.3 billion people and say we should just all be eliminated; while your opinions are appreciated, they are neither helpful nor solicited at this time.
Thanks for reading.
Edit: A lot of you seem to be fixating on Indians being a self loathing bunch of people. While I have indulged a few of you and replied, please realize what this post was originally about and state what you believe Indians ‘deserve’ elsewhere. I wont be replying to such comments any longer.
Laiize on April 14th, 2018 at 14:00 UTC »
Why the fuck do people exist who do this shit?
How the fuck does anyone live with themselves after doing this?
ionised on April 14th, 2018 at 11:10 UTC »
...What the fuck?