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After Hathras gang rape, what hope for justice in UP?

Last Updated 30 September 2020, 19:08 IST

The horrific gang-rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district underscores the continuing vulnerability of women, especially Dalit women, to extreme violence and atrocities in this country, especially in Uttar Pradesh. The four rapists subjected her to unspeakable violence. In addition to raping her, they battered her body. She suffered severe spinal injuries and both legs and an arm were fractured. The assailants had tried to strangulate her and she was brought in a paralysed and unconscious state to Delhi’s Safdarjang Hospital. As shocking and distressing as the violence unleashed by the rapists is the failure of Uttar Pradesh police. When her kin reported her missing, they did not initiate a search for the woman immediately. In the weeks since the rape, their attitude has only worsened. There are signs that the police are trying to cover up or at least diminish the magnitude of the crime. Two weeks after the incident, UP police have avoided describing the crime for what it is; they are reported to be saying that they are not clear whether it is a rape or a gang-rape. Besides, they cremated the woman in the dead of the night without the consent of her family. Not only have ridden rough shod over the family’s sentiments and rights to see the woman’s body one last time before her cremation and to perform the last rites but also, the rush to cremate her body was clearly aimed at destroying evidence.

In most cases of violence against women, the police and courts back the assailant; entrenched patriarchy in our society and culture is to blame for justice rarely being done to women. This is especially so when women from marginalised castes or classes are subjected to violence by upper caste, rich and politically powerful men. The Hathras case involves a Dalit woman and her assailants are upper class men. The latter should be tried for gang-rape and murder under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, nothing less.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for 14.7% of all crimes against women. Under the Yogi Adityanath government, the state has witnessed a 27.9% rise in crimes against Dalits. In the Hathras case, as in the many other cases of horrific crimes that have been regularly reported from UP, there is little hope that the establishment will work to ensure justice. Civil society must keep an eye on the progress in the case to ensure that the victim’s family is not pressured to withdraw the case, the police do not dilute the crime, and that justice is done.

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(Published 30 September 2020, 18:47 IST)

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