BADAUN, a district town, some 300km from Lucknow, capital of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, renowned for producing India’s best lyricists and poets, took a beating last week. Two teenage Dalit, lowest caste in Indian social hierarchy, girls were gang-raped and later found hanging from a mango tree near Badaun’s Katra village.
The fact that the ghastly crime occurred when the two cousins
ventured in the dusk to relieve themselves out in the fields also
reflects the stark realities in remote rural areas where toilets in
homes and proper civic amenities are still a far cry.
The heinous incident has once again raised tempers and national outcry. Under pressure, the state government, which in the not too distant past drew much flak for its inept handling of a communal disturbance resulting in several deaths, ordered a federal probe into the incident. Though five persons, including two cops have been arrested and two of the accused have confessed to the crime, the incident sparked an outrage over the law and order situation, especially the safety and violence against women. While there is an increasing clamour from rights groups and political parties, who have launched demonstrations, for the ouster of the state government, the distraught father of the dead girl spurned government compensation and demanded justice.
It’s exasperating that despite strict legislations to curb crimes and sexual violence against women, in the wake of the gruesome December 2012 fatal gang-rape of a young student in a moving bus in Delhi, cases of atrocities against women, in fact, have gone up instead of coming down.
Not a day goes without some crime or sexual assault against a woman in some part of the country. In a country of over a billion people with deep-rooted caste prejudice, misogynistic attitude and rampant female foeticide, it needs prolonged concerted awareness campaigns, apart from stern punitive action, to bring about a perceptible change in the mindsets.
The heinous incident has once again raised tempers and national outcry. Under pressure, the state government, which in the not too distant past drew much flak for its inept handling of a communal disturbance resulting in several deaths, ordered a federal probe into the incident. Though five persons, including two cops have been arrested and two of the accused have confessed to the crime, the incident sparked an outrage over the law and order situation, especially the safety and violence against women. While there is an increasing clamour from rights groups and political parties, who have launched demonstrations, for the ouster of the state government, the distraught father of the dead girl spurned government compensation and demanded justice.
It’s exasperating that despite strict legislations to curb crimes and sexual violence against women, in the wake of the gruesome December 2012 fatal gang-rape of a young student in a moving bus in Delhi, cases of atrocities against women, in fact, have gone up instead of coming down.
Not a day goes without some crime or sexual assault against a woman in some part of the country. In a country of over a billion people with deep-rooted caste prejudice, misogynistic attitude and rampant female foeticide, it needs prolonged concerted awareness campaigns, apart from stern punitive action, to bring about a perceptible change in the mindsets.
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