Rapes, murders, kidnaps, and all such evils have been nothing new to us. They’ve been prevalent in our society since ages and are very likely to last for many coming generations. What neutralises all these crimes is a judicial system that ensures justice to the victim and punishment to the guilty. The moment this justice is taken away, humanity starts staring at a defeat against all ugly evils. People coming out in numbers to support the culprit instead of the victim put humanity to shame.
The last few days have seen India get blotted with two shambolic rape cases, first in UP’s Unnao district and second in Jammu’s Kathua district. We’ve seen many spine chilling rape cases in the past, then what exactly makes these two cases fall beyond the heights of inhumanity? Back in 2012, we had unified candle marches demanding justice for Nirbhaya, a girl who was raped and murdered in ways unimaginable to a sane human mind. Fast forward to 2018, we’re witnessing large-scale protests in Jammu, but unfortunately to support the culprit instead of the victim. Driven by ugly politics on the name of religion, people in both Kathua and Unnao are putting humanity to shame with their unacceptable acts of violence. Two innocent girls, a dozen of barbaric men, and a hatred driven mob blindly protecting the culprits have now become a part of a story that will test the Indian Judiciary’s strength against power and politics. Here is an entire timeline of both the cases that has left the Indian society reeling for signs of humanity.
Unnao Rape Case
Political power in India has always helped many criminals find a way out of all judicial troubles. To add another episode to India’s dirty political scenario, a BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar from Unnao’s Bangarmau constituency has been alleged to have raped a girl continuously for one year before beating his kin to death in police custody.
It all began way back in June 2017, when the victim visited Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s house to seek help for getting employment. She was raped on the same day and went missing for many days before her family lodged a missing complaint with the police a week later. A few days later, she was found in a nearby village in Auraiya and was brought back to Unnao the very next day. A few days later, she is made to appear before the court and record her statement but was forced not to mention the MLA’s name in her statement recorded under section 164 of CrPC. She is then torture by police under custody and is released only after 10 days. She was then drugged, raped, and kidnapped by the MLA and at least a dozen other acquaintances of his. She alleges that the MLA forcefully drugged her and kept her in a heavily guarded room for months. She kept sending complaints to the CM office and other senior police officials regarding the registration of an FIR against the MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, and his brother, Atul Singh Sengar.
Out of disparity, victim’s mother approached the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Unnao, requesting to file the FIR against Kuldeep Sengar. The court finally heard her mother’s plea a month later and registers a case against the MLA under section 156 (C) of the CrPC. When victim’s father comes to Unnao for the hearing, he is heavily beaten up by the MLA’s aides and gets arrested by police under the charges of carrying firearms. The victim’s father states that he is framed and beaten up by Atul Sengar but his complaint too gets ignored. The beating proved to be too much to take for the old man who succumbed to his injuries six hours after being moved to the district hospital from district jail. The victim again tries her bit by attempting to self-immolate herself in front of the CM residence in Lucknow to get an FIR registered.
What actions have been taken so far?
An SIT had been constituted to look into the case entirely after UP Police massively failed in their investigation. The officers representing Police in press conferences kept referring to Kuldeep Sengal as ‘Mananiya Vidhayak’. Police was so reluctant to investigate that the Allahabad High Court had to ask for immediate response from the state government on why Kuldeep Sengar was not arrested. The court however issued an arrest warrant against Kuldeep Sengal and is expected to announce its hearing by 3pm on Friday. The SIT refused to make the arrest though, stating that they’ll make an arrest only after acquiring solid evidences against him. His brother, Atul Sengar, was arrested soon after the victim’s father’s death as the evidences against him were solid enough. Neither UP’s CM, Yogi Adityanath nor our PM, Narendra Modi, have spoken on Unnao Rape case and are still maintaining their silence somehow.
Kuldeep Sengar has been arrested by the CBI on Friday morning at around 4:30 am and has been charged with three cases. The court will begin its hearing at around 2:00 pm post lunch.
Kathua Rape Case
An 8-year-old girl was raped inhumanly by a group of men looking to satisfy their lust. The innocent Asifa Bano was grazing her horses when one Sanji Ram plotted a plan to abduct her and torture her to death. Sanji Ram, with the help of his acquaintances, managed to lure Asifa into the forests of Kathua on the pretext of finding her horses. She was then held captive in a Lord Ram temple, drugged and was raped by men in turns for days. The culprits held her captive in a temple with a view that the purity of the vicinity will make their act pure. They asked juveniles to rape her, so that even if police makes arrests, the punishment received remains to be a minor one. Asifa is left half dead in the temple only to be raped by a policeman for one last time before being bludgeoned to death. They then threw her body in the forest again. According to the police chargesheet, all this was done to drive away the Gujjar Bakarwal community from the area.
The involvement of only Hindu men has allowed people to shield this insane act of cruelty on the name of religion. Protests demanding the release of all accused are been undertaken in Kathua by groups of Hindu men and women stating that the whole incident was just to defame the Hindu community. A bandh had to be called in Jammu because of the rising tension in the area.
What actions have been taken?
Initially, the local police tried to cover up the case by destroying evidences. However, after the case was handed over to CBI, the Senior Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch), Ramesh Kumar Jalla, along with his team submitted a detailed chargesheet and also arrested every single accused whose name had popped up in the matter so far. The officer himself is a Hindu Pandit and was under tremendous pressure from the big guns of Hindu Ekta Manch to withdraw the investigations. He however did not back out and completed the investigations 10 days before the initial deadline. The case is to be heard by two Sikh judges to ensure that the panel is also not blamed of being religiously biased.
Reactions from BJP members were even more shocking!
Though neither of the top guns from BJP has bothered to speak about the Unnao or Kathua rape cases, the ones from BJP who have spoken out have only put them in even more trouble. BJP MLA from Bangarmau district in Uttar Pradesh said, “I am speaking from psychological point of view; no one can rape a mother of three children. It is not possible, this is a conspiracy against him.” He didn’t think twice before making comments to ignite further communal hatred in Jammu. Here is what he said according to ANI UP.
Ye vipakshi rashtravirodhi hain. Inka aaka, kisi ka Islam mein baithta hai, kisi ka Italy mein basta hai…2019 ka chunav, Islam banam Bhagwaan hone jaa raha hai. Isliye Bharat ke logon, nirnay kar lena, ki Islam jeetega ya bhagwaan jitega: BJP Bairia MLA Surendra Singh in Ballia pic.twitter.com/Dh63cpMQD6
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 12, 2018
While Rahul Gandhi decided to quietly take out a candle march instead of blaming anyone, Mayavati demanded PM Narendra Modi to observe a one day fast against Kuldeep Sengar. Delhi CM also had his say and was miffed with both Kathua and Unnao rape cases. Here is what he tweeted.
Absolutely nauseating
कुछ हिंदू संगठन दोषियों का साथ दे रहे हैं क्योंकि लड़की मुस्लिम थी और दोषी हिंदू हैं? पर UP में तो तुमने हिंदू लड़की का रेप किया? उसके हिंदू बाप को मार डाला? अपनी हवस के लिए तुम किसीकी लड़की को नहीं छोड़ते- चाहे हिंदू हो या मुस्लिम https://t.co/mYgMkudYpx
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 12, 2018
Even the global media like NY Times went out hard on the culprits and pointed out to the dirty religion driven politics prevalent in the country.
Twitter went furious with top celebrities too condemning the inhuman act on the name of religion!
Farhan Akhtar was spot on with his tweet!
Imagine what goes through the mind of an 8 yr old as she is drugged, held captive, gang raped over days and then murdered.
If you don’t feel her terror, you are not human.
If you don’t demand Asifa get justice, you belong to nothing.— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) April 12, 2018
Sonam Kapoor was fuming over what happened!
Ashamed appalled and disgusted by fake nationals and fake Hindus. I cannot believe this is happening in my country. https://t.co/V8tKoo6viX
— Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) April 12, 2018
Even Richa Chadha did not step back from condemning the heinous acts!
https://www.twitter.com/RichaChadha/status/984326728469409794?p=v
The disappointment is more for the people who are actually trying to defend the culprits. Who is to be blamed? The ones who are spreading this religious hatred or we, who chose the ones who are spreading this hatred. It is high time we accept the ugly game prevalent in our country and stand unified against it before another Asifa gets raped and mutilated leaving humanity ashamed of us yet again.