Lucknow:
It pitched Mayawati against Rahul Gandhi and while the Uttar Pradesh administration may have dragged its feet in registering cases against policemen, alleged to have raped women in Bhatta and Parsaul villages, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission has now stepped in.
The chairman of the SC/ST Commission, PL Punia, has told NDTV that it will initiate contempt proceedings unless the Uttar Pradesh Police initiated immediate action on the Bhatta Parsaul rapes and registered FIRs.
"If an FIR is not registered in the Bhatta Parsaul case, it means the Uttar Pradesh government officials are indulging in contempt of court. The commission has powers to initiate contempt proceedings. Although the commission has never exercised these powers but it is willing to do so if an FIR is not registered," Mr Punia said.
For almost six months their ordeal during the violent farmer-police clashes in Bhatta Parsaul, which took place in May this year, went largely unreported. But now women are speaking out and alleging cases of rape against policemen, who cracked down on the protesters.
Says a rape victim, (name withheld). ''The day the firing happened (May 7) police forcibly entered our homes. Some stood outside our homes and some 3-4 policemen misbehaved with us. They forced themselves upon us and raped us.'' Another victim adds, "The day the firing began, the same evening police raped us. We went to the High Court and tried to register a FIR, but they did not register our FIR and now police keep coming back and threaten us.
One of the victims had filed a case of rape before the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Dankaur Police Station, alleging rape by the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) jawans deployed in Bhatta-Parsaul. However alleging police inaction they took the matter to court. A lower court ruling ordering an FIR be registered was then challenged by the state government. The matter was then taken up by Allahabad High Court, who then slammed the state government for its refusal to lodge an FIR.
Justice SC Agarwal of the Allahabad High Court had said the state government had no business to challenge the lower court's decision ordering the police to register an FIR on the complaint of the victim. The state government has so far denied the rape cases.
Despite the government's denials, the Bhatta issue is not likely to go away anytime soon and could play a major factor in the run-up to UP elections next year. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi first raised the issue during a visit to the twin villages of Bhatta and Parsaul. He claimed that locals told him that the police had raped women.
The tension between the police and the villagers stems from large protests by farmers who want the government to return the land that had been acquired for them for public projects. The farmers allege that the land they had surrendered had been passed onto commercial real estate developers and the government was making a profit. As protests broke out, police allegedly opened fire. Four people were killed, including two policemen.