If we can’t stand up today for the eight-year-old girl who was brutally raped and murdered in Jammu, regardless of our gender, caste, creed, colour or religion, then we don’t stand for anything in this world.. not even humanity.
That a Hindu temple is at the center of the crime, makes this case even worse. The police say that Sanji Ram, the temple’s custodian, devised the plan to rape and murder the young girl as a way to terrorize the Bakarwals and that he enlisted a nephew and some friends to kidnap and kill her. The police further believe that she was selected simply because she was by herself and “a soft target.”
These men are monsters, and they defended the crime in the name of religion.
Talking to news agency ANI, father of the girl said, with a sorrowful tone, “I did not expect that my daughter will be a victim of such a heinous crime. The police used to visit us daily and ask if we have found her. They even asked me to go to the forest and look for my daughter. I went to the forest and found the body of my eight-year-old daughter. I was really shocked and upset to see the body of my daughter.”
Not just the father, but the mother of the eight-year-old girl is also trying to come to terms with the loss of her daughter. Pleading for a death sentence for the culprits she said, “What harm did my daughter do to those men who brutally raped her? She was only eight-years-old. We want that culprits to be hanged. The culprits should be killed as brutally as they killed my daughter.”
They noted how in 2012, the fatal gang rape of a young woman dubbed Nirbhaya, had moved hundreds of thousands of Indians to take to the streets in protest. Millions of Indians, regardless of being Hindu or Muslim, are angry and heartbroken at the gruesome Kathua and Unnao rape cases. But the much-needed voices of powerful, business bigwigs and the likes who tweet their opinion on just about every issue, are mum this time.
Ironically, the people of India are not scared. In fact, they are on the verge of a revolt to attain justice for the eight-year-old child and for the cause of humanity. It is, in fact, owing to the nation’s anger, that the hitherto silent Prime Minister was quite literally forced to speak up late on Friday and condemn the beastly act.
He said the incidents do not reflect well on any civilised country. “This is shameful,” said Modi. “Incidents like these can shake our sensibilities. I want to assure that no criminal will be spared; our daughters will get justice,” he further promised.
India has become a land of bigots and hypocrites. We are talking about the same government that has made promises to protect women and children’s safety! The same BJP that had strongly criticized the Congress after the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, which occurred during the latter’s regime in 2012.
The BJP, in my eyes, is responsible for having triggered religious tensions, as well as widespread protests. The kin of leaders and government officials are suspected to be among the perpetrators of such a heinous act. If these two incidents do not stir the conscience of the land, nothing will. Her innocent face refuses to leave me. Justice must be served, hard and fast!