India needs to bow down in shame

The article ‘Sexual violence against girls reeks of terrorism’ (KT April 15) will go down as magnum opus for unbiased minds. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it for the simple reason that the writer holds no punches when taking on the culprits, abettors and their backers with the same vitriol as he did with cases in other parts of the globe. The recent two sexual assaults on girls in Kathua and Unnao are a shame on the collective conscience of Indians. And the stand taken by some right-wing parties — in India — to airbrush the crime, exposes the underbelly of Indian politics. What is more shameful is the fact that the ruling dispensation is soft-pedaling the issue. Indian PM, Narendra Modi, belatedly woke up from his torpor, (post-international furore) to put out an anaemic statement, more as a token compulsion, rather than as a statesman who should be commiserating with the victims. One thought India has come a long way in the wake of national and international outcry at the Nirbhaya gang rape in 2012, and that the law of the land would nail the culprits to the wall through fast-track courts. Instead, what we are seeing is business as usual, with people and politicos becoming blase about such shocking incidents. it should shed the culture of bureaucracy and communalism, with political meddling and symbiotic relationship between politicians and police dispensed with. —M Shakir, by e-mail