The other day a Madras High Court judge lamented that India, the holy land, has become the land of rapists, where a rape is happening every 15 minutes.
Justice Kirubakaran, his name literally meaning merciful, made the observation while hearing a petition relating to the gang-rape of a migrant labourer in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur, but obviously he had the large number of such cases being reported on a daily basis from north India on his mind.
Uttar Pradesh, where the birthplace of Ram, the ‘maryada purushottam’, the ideal man, worthy king, dutiful husband — although feminists would question that — has been liberated from ‘occupation’, seems to be in the run for claiming the title as the capital of the rape republic, although quite a few others must also be in the reckoning.
Under CM Yogi Adityanath, the ardent devotee of Lord Ram, the state has become a dark continent that that his lord would never have allowed. In fact, Ram’s life mission was to destroy the dark continents wherever these existed, including everyman’s mind.
The death of the 19-year-old Dalit girl allegedly at the hands of four inhuman men in Hathras has shocked the national conscience, similar to what had happened in the Nirbhaya case, which was once believed to become a watershed in fighting crimes against women. But unfortunately, many more Nirbhayas have met their violent end in heinous incidents enacted across the country at sickeningly regular intervals.
Under Yogi Adityanath’s insensitive administration and police, feudal elements are having a field day, using caste rivalries to perpetrate crimes against poor Dalits and even the Yogi’s so-called instance justice has failed miserably to prevent the heinous crimes. It does not seem to upset the ritualistic ruler a bit that the poor and downtrodden will not get justice under his dispensation. The Yogi’s Thakur origin has been taken by the men of his caste as licence to kill.
Yogi proclaims that he considered all people equal and his vision for governance was inspired by his faith. “A Hindu is interested in the welfare of all, not merely humans, but all living beings,” he had said in a recent interview.
But instead of preventing atrocities, Yogi’s police is seeking to punish the victims, the most shocking manifestation of which is its interpretation that the Hathras girl was not raped. The height of highhandedness saw them lock up the girl’s family members and cremating her body without even allowing them to see the body.
The Yogi police is persisting with its barricade of the village, denying access the girl’s family and obstructing political leaders who ventured out to meet the family. Politicians headed towards Hathras, including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and TMC leader Derek O’Brien, have been manhandled and pushed to the ground. Kakoli Ghosh, part of the TMC delegation, has alleged that women police personnel tried to rip apart her clothing, while shoving her around.
The village has been turned into a fortress, with police personnel deployed at every nook and corner. Prohibitory orders have been clamped down, placing restrictions on even individual movements and nobody, including relatives of the victim’s family, are not allowed to enter the periphery of the village. The area is out of bounds for the media as well.
Yogi Adityanath has claimed that under his administration has become a model for the rest of the country in terms of law and order, which suggests that he is living a fool’s paradise. He can claim anything, but the facts do not agree. The fact is that UP continues to remain the crime capital of India.
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the state topped the country in crimes against women with 59,445 crimes in 2018, an increase of 7 per cent over the figure for 2017. It also recorded the highest number of gang rapes and second highest number of rapes (4,323 cases) in the country. Dowry deaths, crimes against children, crimes against senior citizens, all recorded an increase from 2017. The state also ranked highest in reported murders, 4,324 cases in 2017.
The state has also acquired unprecedented notoriety for its fake encounters. UP Police insiders themselves have gone on record that nearly three-fourths of those killed in the ‘encounters’ actually were not hardened criminals, as sought to be made out.
