When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator and rape accused Kuldeep Sengar’s supporters warned the victim’s family that the “entire government” is standing with Sengar, they were speaking the truth. The Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh and the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre did indeed squarely stand with Sengar. As they continue to stand by him even now, regardless of the recent developments – tragic and sordid as they are.
How else can one explain the equanimity of the BJP, which claims to have “cleaned up” India in more ways than one, in allowing Sengar to remain within its ranks? Or so it seemed till Swatantra Dev Singh, president of Uttar Pradesh’s BJP unit, on Tuesday, claimed that Sengar was suspended by the party “long ago” and “there is no change in his status.”
Singh’s claim that Sengar was suspended in April 2018 lacks credibility given that a July 2018 report in the Navbharat Times cites the party’s former state president, Mahendra Nath Pandey, saying that action against the BJP leader will only be taken after the charges are proven against him.
The Unnao rape case raises some fundamental questions about what we mean by “corruption”. The sense and meaning of corruption cannot be whittled down to mere financial bungling, if only to suit the political expediency of a political party.
Absence of ethics or decency in politics is equally a matter of corruption. It is that kind of corruption, which if allowed to endure, transforms the idea of a democratic republic into one serving only the influential and powerful. The Unnao gangrape represents a microcosm of that very rotten kind of corruption, which has the potential to destroy human decency and political ethics.
Charged with the rape of a 17-year-old girl, Sengar, a BJP legislator from Unnao, has been in jail for more than a year. Yet, the gravity of his crime hasn’t jolted the saffron party into suspending – let alone, sacking – the accused legislator from the party. Consider the irony: the same party and government which hasn’t deemed it fit to suspend or axe a legislator charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act earlier in July, amended that same Act, bringing in the death penalty in cases of an aggravated sexual offence.
What use are laws and amendments when those entrusted with enforcing them are entangled with powerful, rogue politicians? The Unnao case illustrates the futility of legislating law after law without having the will and the resolve to execute them and punish criminals.
Amending POSCO is easy enough. Especially when few (if not none) among the political class would likely object to legislating stricter punishments. What that class does seem to object to is making good on the legislative provisions they enact in assembly or parliament.
What use are laws and amendments when those entrusted with enforcing them are entangled with powerful, rogue politicians? Photo: Reuters
This Monday, yet another serious charge – that of murder – was slapped on Sengar following Sunday’s car-truck collision that left the rape victim and her lawyer critically injured and two of her aunts dead. So far, silence has reigned in top echelons of the government even as the Unnao unravellings have been at the centre of 24×7 heated public discussions, and made headlines.
The murky twists and turns to the accident case are the subject of a CBI investigation. Let’s for a minute consider the chain of developments that took place prior to the crash. Last April, the victim threatened to immolate herself outside the UP chief minister’s residence, protesting police inaction against the accused. Her father died in police custody after he filed a complaint against Atul Singh Sengar, brother of the rape accused, for beating him up.
Also read | Unnao Case Timeline: A Trajectory of Prolonged Suffering
In the meanwhile, threats continued to pour in thick and fast. Enjoying the protection of the ruling dispensation, Sengar was still a powerful satrap in Unnao. His men roamed the streets, bullying the victim and her family. “Sengar’s men used to scare us. They used to say, ‘you will not be able to do anything.’ The police used to ask us to compromise. They used to say ‘khatam karo ye kahani (end this story,)’” the rape survivor’s cousin told NDTV.
Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Photo: PTI
Following the crash, the statements of the victim’s mother, her uncle and cousins paint the picture of a dystopia where the political classes, the administration and law enforcement agencies actively collude with each other, subverting the process of justice. Their primary objective is neither to implement the law, nor expedite the delivery of justice. Their intention is to shield the accused and muzzle the victim.
As if weighed against the electoral profits the accused could deliver, the allegations of abduction and rape of a minor are trivial matters. A leader of the Thakur community, Sengar is a vote-catcher. Before joining the BJP, he found a home with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP.) With his money and muscle power, Sengar can swing votes. A credo embraced by every political party. The BJP is no exception.
Nor is this the first time that the BJP has dragged it feet or refused to take action against a rape accused or its leaders supporting them. The rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua last January stirred a political storm. Just as Sengar has taken refuge behind a protective shield put together by his party, the administration and the police, the Kathua rape case saw right-wing Hindu groups marching on the streets, protesting the arrest of Deepak Khajuria, a special police officer and an accused in the rape case.
Also read | ‘Said They Would Wipe Out Our Family, And They Did,’ Says Unnao Survivor’s Sister
Two BJP ministers – Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga – in the J&K cabinet participated in that rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch, demanding the release of the accused. Protests from then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti eventually forced the two to quit the cabinet.
The Unnao case is two years old. One wonders what prevented the opposition from mounting pressure on the administration to expedite the process of justice for so long. What prevented them from demanding an answer from the BJP about Sengar’s continuance as a legislator? This week, as the Unnao victim lay in a critical medical state, SP leaders like Akhilesh Yadav went to Lucknow to meet the family. Lok Sabha witnessed noisy protests over the incident.
The culture of short-lived protests and the enduring politics sans ethics has cast a long shadow on the republic of India. With just a fortnight to go before the tricolour flutters at Red Fort and the prime minister delivers his independence day address, we need to look inwards and ponder at the lack of our own outrage.
