Stars condemn ‘ ghastly crimes’
New Delhi, April 17: Legendary Indian boxer M. C. Mary Kom, who is also a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, said the alarming increase in the number of rapes in the country has left her feeling “hurt and helpless” while star shuttler Saina Nehwal condemned the “ghastly crimes”.
After the 2012 Nirbhaya case, the Kathua and Unnao rape cases have shaken the nation, triggering widespread outrage.
An eight- year- old girl was assaulted and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district while BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been arrested on allegations of raping a minor in Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh.
“Whatever the government is doing, it will take a correct step. They know better than me. It hurts me, makes me very emotional being a woman. As an Indian I feel sad. I feel helpless,” Mary Kom told a TV channel on returning to India from Gold Coast, where she won a historic gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, badminton star Saina Nehwal, who won the women’s singles gold at the CWG, also posted a anger- laden tweet.
“I am deeply grieved to feel the atrocities on the girls and women in India by assaulting and brutally ending the priceless lives by few mindless creatures in our beautiful country. I condemn the ghastly crimes,” Saina wrote on her Twitter page.
A few days ago, India’s other sportspersons such as cricketer Gautam Gambhir, tennis star Sania Mirza and badminton player Jwala Gutta had expressed anguish on the trend.
Sania, retweeting a New York Times story on the Kathua case, wrote on Twitter: “Is this really the kind of country we we want to be known as to the world today ?? If we can’t stand up now for this 8 year old girl regardless of our gender, caste, colour or religion then we don’t stand for anything in this world. Not even humanity. Makes me sick to the stomach.”— PTI