Women's rights groups demand justice amidst rising sexual violence

New Delhi: A group of organisations, including women's rights groups, on Tuesday sought expeditious investigation and action into a series of rape cases reported from various states while criticising the response of elected representatives and officials accusing them of politicising the incidents rather than ensuring justice.

A joint statement was issued by around 35 organisations, including All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM), All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), All India Mahila Samskritik Sanghatan (AIMSS), All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) and All India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA) among others emphasising the need for the focus on an effective criminal investigation, law enforcement, and governance.

They said just empty rhetoric or draconian measures like the death penalty, which they assert has been proven ineffective in deterring crime, will not work. The statement came against the backdrop of incidents of sexual crime from various parts of the country, including Kolkata, Manipur, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.

"The heinous rape and murder of a medical practitioner reported from RG Kar Hospital and Medical College, Kolkata, and the cover-up by the institution and authorities are a stark reminder of the callousness of societal attitudes and systemic failures that in fact, perpetuate such violence. Within days of the Kolkata rape and murder, several gruesome cases of sexual violence have been reported from Uttarakhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. Each, a grim reminder that the violence against women and young girls across the country continues undeterred," they said.

The statement said the organisations urge the CBI, which is now investigating the Kolkata case, to rise above political interests and conduct a fair and unbiased investigation.

"However we recognise that the demand for fair trial and implementation of the law is even more challenging in these times when the Union Government, while making claims of making more stringent laws to ‘protect’ women, systematically releases and even felicitates those held guilty of gang rape, and multiple murders such as those convicted in Bilkis Bano’s case (Gujarat 2002), Muzzaffarnagar (2013), Ariyalur (2016), the Kathua case (2018), or Hathras (2020), Muzzafarpur (2024)," it said.

"This is also the same Union government which stood silent despite widespread evidence of women being brutally assaulted, raped and paraded naked in Manipur. And it is the same central government that assaulted women (and male) wrestlers when they agitated against being molested by the President of the Wrestling Federation of India Chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Not to mention the political support they extend for ‘spiritual leaders’ convicted of sexual crimes such as Asaram Bapu and Gurmeet Ram Rahim to constantly be out on bail," it alleged.