Outrage at rapes escalates
INDIA: The rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl and the rape of a teenager have sparked mass protests, with levels of public outrage not seen since the death of a young woman on a bus in 2012.
Yesterday, thousands of people demonstrated in New Delhi, Mumbai, and other cities, demanding that the government quickly prosecute rape suspects. Candlelight vigils were also held.
The demonstrations have become a comment on the state of the country and how it treats its women and children – feeding off India’s perennial battles against corruption, religious tensions and gender-based violence.
They have also engulfed Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP party in an election year, with the party accused of trying to shield a state MP in one case and of defending the accused in the other.
The body of eight-year-old Asifa Bano was found earlier this year in Kathua, in the volatile state of Jammu and Kashmir. She was drugged, locked in a temple, gang raped for days and finally strangled. The victim came from a nomadic Muslim community while her alleged attackers are Hindu men, including a local political fixer.
In Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, a 16-year-old girl accused a ruling party politician of rape, along with his brother. After weeks of inaction, the victim tried to kill herself in front of the chief state minister’s house. Her father went to file a complaint and died in police custody, leading to the suspension of several officers.
Both the suspect and the chief minister are close cohorts of Modi. The suspect was eventually arrested.