Faster police action can curb sexual violence

There are monsters among humans, lurking to kill at the slightest chance. If we dare trust anyone among our acquaintances or social contacts, we could be in for a rude shock. The latest proof of this revelation is a heinous act of crime that took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun.

Humans try to avoid any possible interaction with wild beasts and venomous serpents in the wilderness. But it is impossible to evade dangers from fellow humans in a civilized society. There are monsters among humans, lurking to kill at the slightest chance. If we dare trust anyone among our acquaintances or social contacts, we could be in for a rude shock. The latest proof of this revelation is a heinous act of crime that took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun.

The victim is a middle-aged Anganwadi worker. On Sunday evening, she went to a temple in the outskirts of her hometown. At 11 PM the same day, the temple priest and two assistants brought her home in a car. She was bleeding profusely with wounds all over the body. They told her family members and neighbours that she fell into a rocky well and got injured. They then immediately fled the scene.

The victim later succumbed to her injuries. The family grew suspicious and were shocked to notice blood oozing from her private parts. They complained to the police and the body was shifted to a local hospital for post mortem. The autopsy confirmed that the victim was gang-raped by the three men, who also broke her ribs and leg and injured her nether regions. While the two assistants were arrested on Tuesday night, the priest “Mahant” Satya Narayana, who was on the run, was taken into custody on Thursday. All three were booked under Section 376D (gang rape) and Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. The police officer who showed lax in responding to the complaint has been suspended from duty.

A similar crime had happened at the Devanahalli temple, Karnataka in November 2020. Venkata Ramanappa, 61, who came to Devanahalli from Chikkaballapur to take charge as the interim priest; preyed on a 10-year-old girl. He took the girl to his daughter’s residence within the temple premises and brutally raped her. The issues came to light when the grandmother complained about her missing granddaughter. After enquiring with a few local vendors in the area, the police examined the temple’s CCTV footage which led to the priest’s arrest. Thousands of such incidents go unreported every day. There are no speedy trials or serious investigations into crimes against women and children. In the majority of cases, the sexual perpetrators are acquaintances of the victims.

National Women’s Panel member Chandramukhi Devi stooped to a shameful low by commenting that the Badaun rape could have been averted if the victim never stepped out of her home. Women organizations across the country too condemned her statement and demanded that she step down from her position.

Earlier, Chhattisgarh Women’s Council President Kiranmayee Naik too had made some insensible comments about live-in relationships and rape victims. Such irresponsible statements from key people in women’s organizations are sending jitters down the spine. Instead of attempting to curb the crimes and fight for expedited trials; some women leaders have resorted to victim shaming.

A 7-year-old girl was brutally murdered in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadras over occult practices. A childless couple killed the girl believing they would be blessed with a child if they consumed the organs of a girl-child on Diwali. Around the same time, two Dalit girls were stabbed to death and thrown to drown in a pond in Fatehpur. In Firozabad, three men tried to molest a 16-year-old girl and when she resisted, they shot her to death. Molestation of a 9-month old infant in Hanmakonda, the brutal torture and gang rape of an 8-year-old in Kathua, rape and murder of a ninth-grade student in Anantapur; what kind of a country are we living in?

In the wake of the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, several states have drafted special legislations to curb sexual assaults on women. Indira Jaising, a noted human rights lawyer revealed that over 80 per cent of rape accused were getting acquitted. In a country which reports 87 cases of rape per day, how can one expect fear of judiciary or social consequences among perpetrators? ‘When can an Indian woman feel safe?’ tweeted Prime Minister Modi on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti in 2013. Until the Supreme Court order about filing a charge sheet within 2 months of sexual assault becomes a reality besides curbing drugs, alcohol and pornography; Indian women continue to live in fear.