UP Dalit girl resists rape attempt, stabbed in eyes

Days after the Lakhimpur incident wherein a girl was allegedly raped and hanged inside a police station, a 14-year-old Dalit girl was left partially blind after two youths who tried to rape her stabbed her in the eyes when she resisted their attempt.

In a separate incident, an 18-year-old dalit girl was allegedly raped by a youth at gun point in Ranipur Beladi village in Basti, police said.  The two fresh incidents of molestation of dalit girls in Uttar Pradesh have prompted the Opposition to intensify its attack on the Mayawati government which prides itself on dalit welfare. In the first incident which occurred in Bhurpurwa village in Kannauj district of UP, the hapless girl, Preeti, stares at a dark future as her left eye was left completely damaged while the right one suffered 80 per cent damage in the attack. Unless treated immediately, she runs the risk of going totally blind.

On Friday evening, two youths from the victims’ village tried to rape her when she had gone out to answer the call of nature. Preeti fought back their assault and shouted for help, police said.

Angered by her resistance, the accused, identified as Kuldeep Lonia and Niranjan Yadav, stabbed her in the eyes and left her bleeding. She was found in the fields later by her family members and other villagers after she did not return home.

“Preeti had injuries all over her body with blood oozing out of her eyes and she was writhing in pain,” said her father Prakash Lonia.

Her parents rushed Preeti to the district hospital and she was later referred to Kanpur. “The girl has lost vision in the left eye completely and the right eye has 80 per cent damage,” said Dr Awadhesh Pratap Singh, an eye surgeon.