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24,000 rape cases reported in six months accused include politicians

By Lalit Sethi. Dated: 9/20/2019 1:12:18 AM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken again for the protection of girls and reiterated his Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao, teach the girl and save the girl from molestation but every day a few more rape cases come to light on the print and electronic media. A few hundred or thousand get reported to the police all over the country in a few months. The latest reports come of a gang rape in South Delhi by four persons near the Sarai Kale Khan Bus Depot and from Assam and Bihar over the week-end in mid-September.
It is alleged that the police are unable or disinclined to pursue these complaints for the simple reason that they are preoccupied with graver crimes. But it is alleged that they are at times under pressure not to nab high profile people accused of raping because they belong to a ruling party. The Kathua rape case a couple of years ago in the Jammu region has been transferred under orders of the Supreme Court. How many cases get the attention of a District Judge or High Court or the Supreme Court? A Congress spokesperson alleged that 24,000 rape cases had been reported in the past six months.
Mr. Digvijaya Singh of the Congress alleged late at night on September 18 that rapes were being committed by saffron-robed people in temples; other people have alleged similar activities of priests of several faiths and people in power.
In several cases the Supreme Court has intervened to order action against a high profile BJP former Minister and a former MP owning a law college, Swami Chinmayanand, saffron robed and sporting grey hair and beard, while an MLA from Unnao is being tried by a special court in New Delhi's Medical Institute.
The Congress has questioned why the government did not take action and why the former BJP MP, Swami Chinmayanand, was not arrested in the rape case against him. It alleged police collusion with criminals and that protecting them has become part of the ruling party's tactics or "DNA". A Congress spokesperson, Ragini Naik, accused the BJP of having an "anti-woman mindset" and it has not taken action against its leaders accused of rape, especially in Uttar Pradesh; instead it protected them.
She alleged that the victim in the Chinmayanand rape case is being subjected to harassment, while the accused had been roaming free. An FIR was registered against him only after she wrote a "heart-wrenching" letter to the Chief Justice of India.
Ms. Naik said that in the Unnao rape case as well the victim suffered harassment at the hands of the authorities in Uttar Pradesh as the BJP legislator, Kuldeep Singh Senger, is the accused. "History repeats itself and it is the blatant example of criminal record that can be seen in the largest state of this country, which is ruled by the BJP". The Congress will continue to raise its voice and stand with the victims and ensure that the perpetrators, however strong they are, whosoever they are, however powerful they are and whatever office they hold, are brought to justice", she said.
"In the past six months, there have been over 24,000 First Information Reports in cases of child rape, while only 4 per cent (about 900 cases) have been disposed of by the police", she said.
"In Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by the BJP, a total of 3,457 cases of rapes against children have been registered and only 22 have been disposed of, which is just 3 per cent", she said.
Quoting the former Chief Justice of India, Mr. Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, she said, "The fight is not for the woman's status, but for human worth. The claim is not to end inequality of woman, but to restore universal justice. The bid is not about loaves and fishes for the forsaken gender, but for cosmic harmony, which never comes until gender justice comes."
The post-graduate student, who had alleged harassment by Chinmayanand, is reported to have said on Monday, September 16, that she was raped by the BJP leader and also physically exploited for one year. She had approached the Delhi Police with a complaint accusing the BJP leader of rape. A senior Delhi Police officer said they received a complaint at a police station in south district which has been forwarded to the special investigation team of the Uttar Pradesh Police.
Swami Chinmayanand faces rape charges brought against him by a young woman employed in the college owned by the former BJP MP and Union Ministe in Shahjahanpur. She reiterated her charges before a magistrate on Monday, September 16, according to an unedited report in the Business Standard, "auto generated by a syndicated feed".
A case under Sections 375 and 376 of Indian Penal Code may be brought against Chinmayanand, as he was in a "position of power and authority" if the woman's statement is considered judicial confession that she was forced into sexual acts owing to fear and blackmail.
The law student from Uttar Pradesh alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Chinmayanand, raped her for over a year and that the State police are reluctant to open a case under the relevant sections against the politician despite her complaints.
The allegations come weeks after the Supreme Court stepped into the case and ordered a special investigation as she was reported to have gone underground after complaining that Chinmayanand had sexually assaulted several women at the college in Shahjahanpur and he is its Director. The woman was found by the police in Rajasthan after she had been on the run for nearly a week as she feared a backlash over the accusations she made on Facebook on August 24.
"On Sunday, September 15, the special investigation team questioned me for about 11 hours. I have told them about the rape. Even after telling them everything, they have not arrested Chinmayanand ", she said while speaking to reporters in Shahjahanpur.
The woman said that she had been on the run, fearing for her life and that the first time she approached the Shahjahanpur police, the district magistrate compelled her family to withdraw the complaint as he told her father to "think about the consequences". The official reportedly declined comment.
The allegation is the second one in less than two years that a BJP leader has been accused of rape - the first being against the Unnao MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who was expelled from the party last month after the woman he allegedly raped two years ago had a road accident in which two of her relatives were killed and she and her lawyer were left in critical condition. He is being tried for his alleged offences by a special court set up under orders of the Supreme Court in Delhi's Medical Institute, where he has sought medical aid. -
—(IFS)
Lalit Sethi is a Journalist of long standing and a commentator on Political and Social Issues.