New Delhi: The gangrape and torture of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh that led to her death has triggered nationwide outrage.
The 19-year-old woman died September 29, two weeks after she was allegedly gang-raped and strangled by upper caste men in the northern Indian state’s Hathras district.
District Police Superintendent Vikrant Vir on September 30 tweeted that the incident took place on September 14. The victim was first admitted to a hospital in Uttar Pradesh and later transferred to at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi due to the severity of her injuries.
Four upper caste men have been arrested and booked for rape and murder and an investigation is underway, the police claimed.
Activists associated with People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights have urged the National Human Rights Commission to conduct an on-the-spot probe into the incident and bring justice to the survivor and her family.
In a memorandum submitted to the commission September 30, the NGO, based in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi town condemned “the barbaric and inhumane act” and demanded the state government take immediate action against the perpetrators.
The memorandum was signed by the committee’s convener Shruti Nagvanshi, secretary Shirin Shabana Khan and Lenin Raghuvanshi, the founder.
The committee has been working for the rights of Dalits for the past 25 years.
The Dalit woman hailed from a village under Chandapa police station in Mahamaya Nagar (Hathras). Her limbs were paralyzed and her tongue was brutally wounded.
Police have arrested one Sandeep and his uncle Ravi along with their friends Luv Kush and Ramu, all four belonging to the Thakur caste.
Another group to condemn the incident was All India Democratic Women’s Association that on September 29 condemned growing violence against women in Uttar Pradesh.
The association noted that the victim was gang raped when she went to collect fodder from the field.
“Seeing her critical condition, the administration should have shifted her immediately to Delhi for treatment. She was shifted from Aligarh to Delhi only after her father’s request,” the women’s association noted.
The rapists’ “barbaric torture” led to the victim suffering multiple fractures and permanent damage to her spinal cord. “Injuries to her neck left her in a totally paralyzed condition and she struggled to breathe. Her tongue was also slashed.”
The family has also alleged that the police did not register the complaint for five days, noted the statement signed by Malini Bhattacharya, president of the group and Mariam Dhawale, the general secretary.
“Uttar Pradesh has become a hotbed of crimes against women with daily incidents of kidnapping, rape and murder. The political patronage given to criminals in UP has led to a jungle raj with goons moving around with impunity,” their statement alleged.
In India’s caste-based hierarchy, Dalits — who are ranked the lowest and have been referred to as “untouchables” in the past — experience severe discrimination. India’s caste system was officially abolished in 1950, but the 2,000-year-old social hierarchy imposed on people by birth still exists in many aspects of life. The caste system categorizes Hindus at birth, defining their place in society, what jobs they can do and who they can marry.
According to human rights organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Dalit women are particularly vulnerable to caste-based violence and discrimination.
In August, a 13-year-old Dalit girl was raped and murdered in Uttar Pradesh. Last year, two Dalit children were allegedly beaten to death after defecating in the open. In 2018, a 13-year-old girl from a lower caste was beheaded in the south of the country, allegedly by an assailant coming from a higher caste.
A day before the girl’s death, advocates for equal rights for Dalits organized a rally outside the Delhi hospital where she was undergoing treatment.
The leader of the group, Chandrashekhar Azad tweeted: “Me along with the victim’s family are protesting outside Safdarjung hospital right now. We will not tolerate this anymore. We will get justice.”
A number of Indian celebrities, including Bollywood actors and professional athletes, have used their social media to call on the government to adopt policies to protect women.
Meanwhile, data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on September 29 showed India recorded average 87 rape cases daily in 2019 and overall 405,861 cases of crime against women in the year. This was 7 percent more than what was recorded in the previous year. The country recorded 378,236 cases of crimes against women in 2018, the NCRB data showed.