New Delhi: The Kathua and Unnao rape case have once again shattered the conscience of the nation, much as the 2012 Nirbhaya case did.
After a group of retired civil servants wrote a letter last week to Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding him responsible for the “terrible state of affairs” in Kathua and Unnao, followed by another open letter penned by over 600 academics, faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express their anguish and sorrow about “the turn of events in Kathua and Unnao”.
The letter, copies of which have been sent to the President, Minister of Women and Child Development, Minister of Law and Justice, Minister of Human Resource Development and the Leader of Opposition, point at how the “law and order machinery has clearly failed the nation”.
Angry at the way the cases were handles, where the authorities turned a blind eye and even took out protests in support of the accused while carrying the national flag, the faculty members have said that these are crimes that will be “remembered by the citizens of India”.
“To rebuild this lost faith, we join crores of Indians in demanding uncompromised justice for the victims by meting out severe punishment to the perpetrators,” the letter says, before asking that the PM take “substantive and swift punitive, corrective, and preventive measures” as it is only the actions and words of an elected leader that “indicates their moral compass”.
In a display of the outrage felt by both students and faculty members alike, several members of the IIM Bangalore community came together for ‘mounagraha’ – a silent vigil – from April 20 to 23.
Read the full text of the letter here:
Respected Prime Minister,
We, the undersigned faculty members of IIM Bangalore, are writing to express our deep anguish, sorrow, anger and disappointment over the turn of events in Kathua and Unnao. After Nirbhaya, as a nation we vowed to make the country safer for everyone, especially for our women and girls. Your Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaigns and the need to nurture responsible sons, brought hope for a brief period. But that hope has repeatedly been trampled upon. While violence of any kind against anyone is abhorrent, using a child as a political and communal tool reveals the level of depravity we have sunk to.
In these specific cases as in several others, the law and order machinery has clearly failed the nation. The institutions supposed to protect the vulnerable and deliver justice for the victims, turned a blind eye, and worse, seemed to have provided immunity to the perpetrators. The abetting of crimes by those entrusted to protect, and the obstruction of justice by those responsible for its delivery, is unacceptable at any level – and shall be remembered by the citizens of India.
There is an urgent and unquestionable need to reaffirm our constitutional values, and restore faith in our executive, judiciary, legislature and every other institution responsible for upholding the rule of law. To rebuild this lost faith, we join crores of Indians in demanding uncompromised justice for the victims by meting out severe punishment to the perpetrators. In the process, we need to ensure that justice is blind to
politics, ideology, religion, caste, gender or any other form of identity of the parties involved – Satyameva Jayate has no meaning otherwise.
First and foremost, accountability and immediate redressal is essential for the two girls who suffered unspeakable tragedies. The severity of punishment should be such that it acts as a deterrent to such abominable and horrific crimes. The actions taken should clearly signal that such acts are not condonable by the Indian society under any circumstance, regardless of the situations, motives, or persons involved.
We expect exemplary leadership from our elected politicians. What they say and more importantly, what they do not say, indicates their moral compass. Hon’ble Prime Minister, we respectfully expect that you lead the polity towards the correct response – substantive and swift punitive, corrective, and preventive measures. We hope, and trust that – through your actions – justice and rule of law will prevail.
1. Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan
2. Prof. Sreelata Jonnalagedda
3. Prof. Chetan Subramanian
4. Prof. Shankar Venkatagiri
5. Prof. Deepak Malghan
6. Prof. Prithwiraj Mukherjee
7. Prof. Rupa Chanda
8. Prof. Hema Swaminathan
9. Prof. Shanker Subramoney
10. Prof. Soham Sahoo
11. Prof. Malay Bhattacharyya
12. Prof. Anubha Dhasmana
13. Prof. Ashis Mishra
14. Prof. Gopal Naik
15. Prof. A Damodaran
16. Prof. Pearl Malhotra
17. Prof. Padmini Srinivasan
18. Prof. Srivardhini K Jha
19. Prof. Amarnath Krishnaswamy
20. Prof. MS Narasimhan
21. Prof. Jayaram S Uparna
22. Prof. Rajalaxmi Kamath
23. Prof. Sourav Mukherji
24. Prof. Rajendra K Bandi
25. Prof. Haritha Saranga
26. Prof. G Shainesh
27. Prof. B Shekar
28. Prof. Rajeev R Tripathi
29. Prof. Trilochan Sastry
30. Prof. Dalhia Mani
31. Prof. Amar Sapra
32. Prof. Raghavan Srinivasan (Rtd. Prof)
33. Prof. Ishwar Murthy
34. Prof. Mira Bakhru (Rtd. Prof)
35. Prof. Rajluxmi V Murthy
36. Prof. Mithileshwar Jha (Rtd. Prof)
37. Prof. Manaswini Bhalla
38. Prof. Ritu Tripathi
39. Prof. M Jayadev
40. Prof. N Bringi Dev
41. Prof. Vivek Moorthy
42. Prof. Ritwik Banerjee
43. Prof. Rahul De
44. Prof. U Dinesh Kumar
45. Prof. Preeti Krishnan Lyndem
46. Prof. Srinivas Prakhya
47. Prof. Ashok Thampy
48. Prof. Ramya Ranganathan
49. Prof. S Ramesh Kumar
50. Prof. Seema Gupta
51. Prof. Arnab Mukherji
52. Prof. B Mahadevan
53. Prof. Debarati Basu
54. Prof. R Narayana Swami
55. Prof. V N Bhattacharya (Adj. Prof)
56. Prof. Jayanthi Iyer (Adj. Prof)
57. Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula
58. Prof. B Anil Suraj
59. Prof. N M Agrawal (Rtd. Prof)
60. Prof. Nishant Kumar Verma