A gory gang-rape of an 8-year old in a temple, by a juvenile and two police officers with five more men. I thought that was enough to appal humanity?
I was wrong. After unsuccessfully trying to stop the state police from filing a charge sheet, lawyers at Kathua Bar Association offered free legal aid to the accused.
The body of the little girl, disfigured, was found on January 17. It’s April now. Has the justice been delivered? No. In the meantime, Kathua Bar Council extended every support to the accused and two BJP ministers shamelessly backed them.
J&K Industries Minister Chandra Prakash Ganga and Forest Minister Lal Singh addressed rallies organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused. That was in March.
The ministers tainted the national flag with comments like the arrest of the accused is “jungle raj”, asking the police to not make arrests in the case. Lal Singh incited people with the words, “defy prohibitory orders launch an agitation with full force or sit at home”.
It took an entire country’s wrath and J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s plea for these two ministers to finally put in their resignations. The party is yet to decide on the resignations. They need time to think.
Just like they took time to think in the rape case of a 16-year-old in UP’s Unnao?
A desperate suicide attempt outside UP CM’s residence, the death of a father, the uproar of an entire nation and no, that was still not enough, so the Allahabad High court summoned the arrest of the accused BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on Friday. The rape took place in June last year. This girl had dared, dared to speak, and so her father was arrested and killed in custody.
Even after the long silence of the government, the death of conscience, delay/denial of justice and deliberate perpetration of communal sentiments over the brutal rape of an 8-year old, if BJP is still skeptical about the necessity of this protest, as put by the BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi, “Why no protests for other rape victims?”, it is a shame and a big question mark on the moral grounds and the appropriateness of the political stature of BJP and Lekhi.