A 19-year-old Dalit woman was gang raped and tortured by four upper caste men in UP’s Hathras. She was beaten severely and her tongue was cut off ruthlessly. The woman was mutilated and strangulated by the accused. Her bones suffered multiple fractures, while her condition deteriorated everyday. The girl succumbed to her injuries after fighting for two weeks in a Delhi hospital on 29th September. Her body was forcibly cremated by the cops without allowing her family to witness the ‘funeral rites’ of their daughter. If this was not enough, we were faced with such unbelievable instances that can’t even be condemned, let alone inch closer to providing any length of justice to the 19-year-old. We list five such occasions which fail us as a country.

SC Judge’s remark on why rapes happen

The time when it is expected of the judiciary of our country to provide justice to a girl who was murdered on caste and gender basis, former Supreme Court Judge Markanday Katju’s statement came as a blow on the principle of egalitarianism so vividly written about in our constitution. He said that rape is what comes after food for men. “It’s a natural urge,” he stated. Although he starts by saying that he ‘condemns’ the act, we found no anger in his tone. Furthering his sickening mentality in the statement, he added that rapes happen due to the massive unemployment in the country. The statement in itself is a justification to the the crime, when he said that men have no self control and economy is to be blamed for thus heinous crime in India.

BJP MLA’s observation on how crimes against women can be avoided

Bharatiya Janata Party’s MLA from Uttar Pradesh Surendra Singh told the world that inculcating ‘good values’ in women can reduce the number of rapes happening in the country. Driving the wedge between ‘sanskar’ and ‘shashan’ applicable just for women, he said that rapes can be avoided only with sanskar [culture and values] and not with shashan [governance] or talwar [sword]. The speech was made solely to address his audience regarding the brutal Hathras gang rape, where the MLA asked the parents of the country to try to instil good ‘sanskar’ in their daughters. The sole responsiblity does not fall on the government, he said.

The UN official’s ‘unnecessary’, ‘unwarranted’ comment

UN Resident Coordinator in India Renata Dessallien, calling for attention to the increasing number of cases of sexual violence in India, Hathras and Balrampur cases are ‘a reminder that those from disadvantaged social groups are at greater risk of gender-based violence’. In a statement, she expressed concern over empowerment of families, timely justice and strict action against the perpetrators.

But we live in a country where a woman’s remarks are quite ‘unnecessary’, while misogynistic and ‘more practical’ comments by MLAs are most welcome. MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava termed Dessallien statement as “unwarranted” and “unnecessary” regarding some recent cases of violence against women. He further added that these cases have been taken extremely seriously by the government. That government which took 7 years and 3 months to hang the culprits of Nirbhaya case, collecting evidence against the key accused, when the whole country was a witness.

The media stories

Journalist Rahul Kanwal claimed in a viral video that the District Magistrate of Hathras while talking to the family of the 19-year-old was ‘intimidating’ the family. However, on listening to the video, one finds that the DM was telling the victim’s family that the police are with them.

On the other hand, journalist Tanushree Pandey, who has been reporting fearlessly on Hathras since 29 September, was shown in a bad light by the media itself. While Twitter had been trending with tweets that said it was ‘shameful’ of Pandey to try to make the Dalit woman’s brother speak, the reality was that she had been reporting from ground zero in Hathras: trailing police, confronting with them and conversing with the family. When the woman should be lauded for her bold approach, all she was getting was hate from social media.

Claims over the woman “not being raped”

At the end of all the uproar and condemnation, one finds the authorities claiming that the Dalit woman of the Hathras gang rape was ‘not raped’. Citing a forensic science laboratory (FSL) report, Uttar Pradesh ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that the 19-year-old was not raped after all, it was a result of distorted facts. “Even the woman in her statement to police did not mention about rape but talked about ‘marpeet’ (beating) only,” he said. This instance finally shows that this country is definitely not for women.