In a panel discussion on NDTV anchored by Nidhi Razdan on the horrific rape and murder of two minor Dalit girls in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, Ashok Vats, representing the BJP, said loudly and clearly, referring to young women with mobile phones "(they) make plans to run away, make plans to meet, make plans to go and get raped."
"Make plans to go and get raped." I checked the video clip several times since I could not believe that any one could even think like this, leave alone have the gall to make such comments on national TV in a discussion on sexual atrocities against two adolescents, one of whom was just 15, the other 17. But I was not mistaken in what I heard. He did make such an obnoxious statement. His statement is not an aberration, it is common for BJP leaders to speak of victims of sexual assault in this way. After the brutal gangrape and murder of a young woman in Hathras and when the UP police refused to register a case of rape until the High Court intervened, a BJP leader named Rajeev Srivastatva had said "She was awaara" ( wayward) and the accused, all upper caste men belonging to the same community as the Chief Minister, were "innocent." The National Commission of Women issued notice to him for his outrageous statement, but no action was taken. Not too long ago, in Karnataka, a BJP MLA Renukacharya said that "Certain dresses worn by women excite men" and that they should dress modestly.
In other words, women are themselves responsible for the crimes committed against them. It makes one sick to the core that men with such perverted minds hold important positions in the party that rules India. But such is the political culture that dominates India today that sexist, abusive, insulting words against women by political leaders in important posts, even when spoken in cases concerning minors, like in Lakhimpur Kheri, do not warrant any action against them by the party leadership; on the contrary, they are defended and protected.
The minor girls were Dalit, belonging to a landless family in a remote part of their village. A joint fact-finding team of women's organisations, including a representative from AIDWA (All India Democratic Women's Association), has visited the family. The mother of the girls said that they were abducted, the police have said they went willingly. The police made insinuations against the girls, but the family stood firm. Even assuming that the police version is correct, how does going somewhere with two persons on a motorbike constitute consent for the sexual violence that followed? In any case, according to the law, there is no issue of "consent" as far as minors are concerned. The delegation were told by the girl's family that the police were unhelpful. How unfair that a family shocked and traumatised by such a horrific crime against their girls should have to struggle just to get an FIR registered with the proper clauses of the law.This is a reflection of the situation in Uttar Pradesh where crimes against women and in particular Dalits have increased, and on the other hand, the rate of conviction is not even a third of the registered crimes. Worse, cases remain pending for years.
People and police gather outside the house of two girls whose bodies were found hanging from a tree in Lakhimpur.
The recently released report of NRCB shows that Uttar Pradesh heads the list with the most crimes against women at 56,093 registered cases and also the most crimes against Dalits. UP delivers 26 per cent of all crimes against Dalits in the country, followed by Rajasthan (14.7 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (14.1 per cent). There were 218 cases of gangrape and murder, and in this category too, UP topped the list with 48 such crimes in a single year.
There is thus a legitimate charge made that UP is a state where women, and especially Dalit women, are not safe. In response to this, there is a dangerous attempt by some sections of the government and in the ruling party to communalise the case, since the accused happen to be Muslim. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak made it a point to recite all the names of the accused to reference their religious identity. "Junaid, Sohail, Hafizul, Karimuddin and Arif were involved in the incident. Girls were strangled to death and then hanged," he said, "the government will take such action that the souls of their coming generations will also shiver. " Mr. Brajesh Pathak should know it is not the souls of coming generations that need to shiver, but those who today, under his party's rule, commit crimes against women with impunity knowing that less than one-third of the cases lead to conviction. Moreover, as Deputy Chief Minister, he should also know that India is governed by a Constitution that determines that criminals, rapists, gang rapists, killers of children, murderers, whether their names are Junaid, Sohail, Hafizul, Karimuddin and Arif or whether their names are those of the accused in the Hathras case - Sandeep, Ramu, Lavkush, Ravi or the criminals in the Bilkis Bano case, now granted remission - Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhat, Radheshyam Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Vohania, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Nitesh Bhatt, Ramesh Chandana - they are all equal before the law. It is committing the gravest injustice to the rights of women to a secure and safe environment to treat one set of criminals differently from the other on the basis of religous or caste identity.
11 convicts in Bilkis Bano's gangrape case were greeted with sweets after their release.
Eight years of the rule of a government is long enough to indicate in which direction we are moving as a nation, as a people. Since 2014, when the Modi Government took office, we have seen the promotion of an ideology which in its DNA is misogynist, casteist and communal, reflected in statements and speeches of the kind referred to earlier. Once this gets translated into policies and practice, we witness the kind of injustice it leads to, as in the Hathras case where there is upper caste mobilization against the Dalit family of the 19-year -old victim, or in the Bilkis case, where the punishment for the worst of crimes is reduced because of the caste and religion of the convicted.
The criminals in the rape and murder of the adolescents in Lakhimpur Kheri deserve the most stringent of punishments. The UP government must ensure all assistance to the grieving family.
(Brinda Karat is a Politburo member of the CPI(M) and a former Member of the Rajya Sabha)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.