In Uttar Pradesh, crimes take place at regular intervals but the most shocking yet uncomfortable fact, is that in many instances, the UP Police itself has been accused of perpetrating crimes such as fake encounters, filing false FIRs against political foes of the ruling government or some of its errant personnel committing murders or rapes etc. In the latest shocking incidents, a 19-year old Dalit Valmiki girl was gang-raped in Boolagarhi village of Hatras district by four men from the upper caste Thakur community on September 14. The victim was admitted to Aligarh’s JN Medical College & Hospital where she lay for more than a week. There, family members alleged, they were not informed of the impact of her injuries and that they had to plead with the doctors to attend to her. Under pressure from many quarters, the victim was later shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where she eventually breathed her last. What took place next was the inhuman way the UP Police conducted itself. Without the consent and presence of her family, the police forcibly and hurriedly cremated her body at 2:30 am on September 30 to erase all evidence in the case. According to a video of the victim that had gone viral on social media before she was shifted, the victim, was heard saying that she was raped by two men while the other two ran away when they saw her mother coming. In the Hathras case, reports suggest that the police initially did not want to register a case against the four accused, all of whom belong to the ‘dominant’ Thakur caste. The case has sparked protests by political parties and civil society groups, as the victim was not only brutalised and raped. After she died her body was not handed over to her relatives and was allegedly hastily cremated by the U.P. police. Relatives have accused the police of cremating her without their presence despite their repeated demands to hand over her body. What is happening in Uttar Pradesh is goondaraj. The police have surrounded the village and were not allowing opposition leaders and mediapersons to enter it. They have taken away the mobile phones of the family members of the victim, according to a PTI report quoting activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan.aying. Family members told media persons that police have threatened them against implicating the police in any way. Mahatma Gandhi had from 1933 begun his historic campaign for the removal of untouchability in all its forms and practices. Yet even today, the mindset or ‘Manuvadi’ among the upper castes remain deep rooted. Manuwadi people do not believe in Constitution and praise Manusmriti for it’s greatness and they think that this is India’s future constitution. They believe and practise in the caste system where dehumanising lower castes in any form is to vindicate their beliefs. As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2019, nearly ten Dalit women are raped every day in the country with Uttar Pradesh recording among the highest numbers. Most often, such cases do not even get reported due to fear of heightened backlash from ‘dominant’ castes. This is the picture of the present socio-political scenario in India and a blot on its image as a constitutional democracy.
RELATED POSTS
View all
