Tag: Dalit rape

Twitter Is a Biased Platform: Rahul Gandhi Speaks Out After His Account Was Locked

Gandhi said Twitter was denying his millions of followers the right to an opinion and termed it as an attack on the democratic structure of the country.

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Twitter of being biased and interfering in the country’s political process by blocking his account.

In a strong attack, Gandhi said Twitter was denying his millions of followers the right to an opinion and termed it as an attack on the democratic structure of the country.

The former Congress chief asked whether Indians should allow companies just because they are beholden to the Government of India to define our politics.

“It’s obvious now that Twitter is actually not a neutral, objective platform. It is a biased platform. It’s something that listens to what the government of the day says,” he charged in a video message posted on social media.

“By shutting down my Twitter they are interfering in our political process. A company is making its business to define our politics. And as a politician I don’t like that,” he said.

“This is an attack on the democratic structure of the country. This is not an attack on Rahul Gandhi. This is not you know simply shutting Rahul Gandhi down. I have 19-20 million followers. You are denying them the right to an opinion. That’s what you are doing,” Gandhi said in his video message.

As Indians, he asked, “we have to ask the question: are we going to allow companies just because they are beholden to the Government of India to define our politics for us”.

“Is that what this is going to come to? Or are we going to define our politics on our own? That’s the real question here,” the Congress leader said.

Also read: What the Law Says About Rahul Gandhi Sharing a Photo of His Meeting With Rape Victim’s Parents

He alleged that this is not only patently unfair, this is breaching the idea that Twitter is a neutral platform.

And for the investors this is a very dangerous thing because taking sides in the political contest has repercussions for Twitter, Gandhi said.

“Our democracy is under attack. We are not allowed to speak in Parliament. The media is controlled. And I thought there was a ray of light where we could put what we thought on Twitter. But obviously, that’s not the case,” he said.

Twitter had temporarily suspended Gandhi’s account after he shared pictures of the family of a nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Delhi, which is against the rules and the law. Twitter on its part has said that it has followed the due process as Gandhi’s tweet on the family of the victim was against its rules and the law.

On Wednesday, the Congress’s official Twitter account, along with those of several of its key leaders, were also locked.

Ever since Gandhi’s account was temporarily suspended, several Congress leaders and supporters, including his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have changed their Twitter profile photos to a photo of Gandhi.

Speaking to The Wire about changing his Twitter profile photo to that of Rahul Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said, “The BJP instructed Twitter to shut down the handle of Rahul Gandhi because they are scared of the way he has become the voice of the Indian people – of farmers, unemployed youth, those affected by price of petrol and diesel, people of Jammu and Kashmir, victims of child sexual offences, and those opposing the attack on Indian constitution and culture. My act of changing my Twitter profile photo to Rahul Gandhi symbolises the fact that BJP cannot shut down the pain being felt by ordinary Indians at the state of the nation.”

(With PTI inputs)

Watch | ‘If Authorities Had Listened, She Wouldn’t Be Dead’: Bulandshahr Rape Victim’s Family

On November 17, at Sidh Nagla village in Bulandshahr, a minor Dalit girl was burnt alive in broad daylight.

On November 17, at Sidh Nagla village in Bulandshahr, a minor Dalit girl was burnt alive in broad daylight. In August, the victim had been raped allegedly by one Harish alias Chainta, and was since being harassed by his associates to withdraw her complaint. The victim died during treatment in Delhi.

The family members of the deceased have alleged that if the administration had listened to them in time, their daughter would have been alive. A team from The Wire went to the village in Bulandshahr and talked with the victims’ family.

‘If Authorities Had Listened in Time, She Wouldn’t Be Dead’: Bulandshahr Victim’s Family

A minor Dalit girl was set ablaze months after she was raped in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh.

Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh): On November 17, at Sidh Nagla village in Bulandshahr, a minor Dalit girl was burnt alive in broad daylight. In August, the victim had been raped allegedly by one Harish alias Chainta, and was since being harassed by his associates to withdraw her complaint.

A rape, threats and a murder

The victim used to help her family with farm-related work in the surrounding sugarcane fields. On August 14, following an argument related to the operation of a machine, the victim was picked up from a sugarcane mill by one Kajal of Dhamni, the village neighbouring Sidh Nagla. Her father found her almost 24 hours later, semi-conscious, in the surrounding orchards, where she said she had been raped by Harish, who worked in the orchards. The family says there was no past dispute between the victim’s family and Harish.

After lodging a complaint at the Jahangirabad police station, Harish/Chainta was promptly arrested on August 15 under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (rape) and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. But the police stalled the arrest of the two co-accused, Sanjay and his wife – both relatives of Harish’s.

Also read: Bihar: Kin of Men Who Molested, Burnt Alive 20-Year-Old Threaten to Kidnap Sister

The victim’s ordeal was far from over. Since August, associates of the accused belonging to the victim’s village had allegedly been threatening her, trying to pressurise her into withdrawing the case. “Either take the case back and change your statement, or we will kill you,” they told the victim when she went to work in the fields, according to her family.

Her mother says that the victim was a talkative girl and used to help around the house and in the fields. But as the threats began to grow, she grew quieter, locking herself in a room for hours and starving herself. “She never told us about these threats,” says her sister softly.

At a panchayat meeting, the victim’s father and uncle, too, were allegedly threatened in public. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bulandshahr, Santosh Kumar Singh admits that the local police of Jahangirabad were made aware of these threats. He also admits to their negligence. “Taking the family’s word that they had informed the police about the threats, sub-inspector Kamalkant and darogah Gautam have been suspended for negligence,” he tells The Wire. But when asked about what other on-ground action they took, apart from suspension, he says he will not comment further and the investigation is underway.

Women from the victim’s family. Photo: Prabhat Tiwari

Other tactics were also allegedly used to convince the girl to withdraw her case. “Chainta’s (Harish’s) parents even came to our house and begged for forgiveness…right here,” says the victim’s father, gesturing towards a spot under the household’s neem tree.

Her mother says it was the same spot where the victim was set on fire on the morning of November 17. With her father at a panchayat meeting, only the victim’s mother and elder brother were at home with her. The victim and her mother were preparing for a meal when a group of people entered the house. A scuffle followed and raised voices heard, and the victim was set ablaze. “I had just gone to take a bath when I heard my mother scream ‘They’ve set her on fire!’…immediately, I came out of the bathroom and put whatever cloth I could on her to douse the flames,” her brother says.

He could only catch a glimpse of the perpetrators running away, and couldn’t recognise them as they were wearing masks. The victim’s father believes he caught a glimpse of Sanjay when a crowd of neighbours gathered in their house after the incident. But her mother remembers nothing and no one. Still in shock, all she remembers is her daughter on fire. “She was burning. I just put a blanket over my child…,” she keeps repeating.

Institutional apathy

After the violence came institutional apathy – as is often the case with marginalised communities, particularly Dalits, in India. The police sent the victim away to a local hospital before the family could lodge a complaint. The Jahangirabad hospital did not give the victim the required medical attention. “We were told to rub ointment on her [the victim]. That is supposed to be the doctor’s job! We were the ones transferring her into an ambulance,” says her brother.

After a long, 45-minute wait, an ambulance took the victim to another hospital in Bulandshahr. There, she was referred to a Delhi hospital. At Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, she succumbed to her injuries. In a video of the victim, filmed at a hospital, she has named rape co-accused, Sanjay and Kajal.

Watch: For Dalit Families in Hathras Victim’s Village, Caste System Is Alive and Thriving

Unlike in the wake of the Hathras gangrape and murder, the brutality meted out to this young Dalit girl has largely been met with silence. There are no politicians, policemen and or media crew at the victim’s house. Her elder sister tells The Wire, “No one came when my sister was raped. No one heard us back then. Now just about anyone is coming…had anyone given her a hearing, my sister wouldn’t have died. She would have been alive, and you wouldn’t have had to come here.”

Men gathered outside the victim’s house. Photo: Prabhat Tiwari

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Bulandshahr, Santosh Kumar Singh says that five people – Bir Singh, Badan Singh, Banwari, Jaswant Singh and his son Gautam – were arrested on November 18 in relation to threatening the victim and setting her ablaze. They all have been charged with murder. “The main accused (Harish/ ‘Chainta’) was arrested after the August incident. Two – rape co-accused Sanjay and Kajal – are still absconding. A bounty of Rs 20,000 has been announced for them,” the SSP says.

“If the main accused, Sanjay and his wife [Kajal] had been arrested time, the other five lives wouldn’t have been ruined. They wouldn’t have been involved in this act,” the victim’s father and brother say. They also believe that it is not only caste, but political muscle power at play. The rape accused Harish/‘Chainta’, Sanjay and Kajal belong to the Aheria community (who are listed as OBCs) whereas two accused – Jaswant Singh and Gautam – of the five arrested for threats belong to the same Jatav community as the victim. Moreover, most of the households in Sidh Nagla are Jatav households.

Also read: Why Feminists Must Join the Movement Against the Manusmriti

When asked about the steps the UP police is taking, SSP Singh said that an investigation is being carried out, with all arrangements in place. “A sum of Rs 8.4 lakh, in addition to the Rs. 3.75 lakh [announced by the state government], to be given to the family has been granted clearance. Five accused have been arrested. Police protection is being given to the family.”

Yet the family says they don’t feel safe.

A clamour of voices decries the Yogi Adityanath government. “Despite their slogans of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, such incidents seem to be increasing…their own people are protecting them [the accused],” say victim’s brother and uncle. According to the National Crime Report Bureau, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest increase in crime against women, at 66.7%, in four years, in 2019.

“What we want is a license [for weapons] so that we can protect ourselves,” the victim’s brother and uncle continue. This demand for gun licenses and subsidised guns has often been raised by Dalit leaders, most recently by Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad. The demands point to their lack of faith in the state and its institutions.

As per news reports, on November 19, the UP government announced a Rs 3.75 lakh compensation, protection and other support for the victim’s family. But her father, brother and uncle believe that weapons licenses are also important – because that’s where the perpetrators are getting their strength from.

The victim’s sister, though, feels differently. “All I want is justice for my sister. I have nothing more to ask for,” she says.

Zobia Salam has a BA in political science from Lady Shri Ram College for Women and is currently an intern at The Wire. 

Hathras Case: PIL Seeks Action Against Government Officials for ‘Destroying Evidence’

The petitioner said he was compelled to file the PIL after some “glaring facts” were revealed regarding the state’s “support” for manipulating and destroying evidence in the Hathras case.

New Delhi: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court against government officials involved in the destruction of evidence in the Hathras case.

The plea, filed by activist Chetan Janardhan Kamble, sought the issuance of directions to register offences against the staff of JN Medical College, AMU, Aligarh and Bagala Joint District Hospital, Hathras and other government officials who were “involved” in “destroying evidence” related to the case.

The dead body of the 19-year-old Dalit woman, who was allegedly raped by four Thakur men, was hastily cremated by the police, allegedly without her family’s consent.

The plea seeks charges to be invoked under sections 166-A (punishment for non-recording of information), 193 (punishment for false evidence), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code among others, and offences under section 3 (2) and 4 of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against the government officials involved in the destruction of evidence.

The petitioner said he is “constrained” to prefer the present criminal writ petition in the form of a PIL after some “glaring facts” were revealed regarding the state’s support for manipulating and destroying evidence in the Hathras case, in a petition filed by social activist Satyama Dubey in the Supreme Court.

In the plea, it is averred that the medico-legal examinations for ruling out sexual assault were not conducted immediately after the incident, especially when the undergarments were blood stained and the clothes of the girl were torn.

The Dalit woman was allegedly gang-raped and assaulted on September 14, and succumbed to her injuries at New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on September 29. On October 1, UP ADGP (law and order) Prashant Kumar claimed that the woman was not raped, citing a report by the forensic science laboratory in Agra.

Also read: Backstory: The Hathras Gangrape and Four Media Challenges

This report was based on samples collected eleven days after the alleged rape took place, according to Azeem Malik, CMO of Aligarh Muslim University’s (AMU’s) Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College. However, government guidelines strictly say forensic evidence can only be found up to 96 hours after the incident.

This reflects the complicity of certain UP state police and officials in the government machinery in manipulation and destruction of evidence and shielding the accused in respect of the subject crime, the plea filed by Kamble said.

The plea also pointed to the fact that certain state officials like the district magistrate of the area were seen openly threatening the family victims. “All this clearly indicates a collective effort by the state machinery to coerce and intimidate the witnesses. It also shows the hostility that is being openly meted out to the public at large as could be seen from the facts that the village was completely cut off for two days to the outside world in order to ensure that there is no transparency,” the plea read.

In this context, the petitioner urged the top court to issue directions for conducting an investigation in the aforementioned offences by an independent special task force – excluding the CBI and UP state Police – appointed by and monitored by the court.

The plea also sought the issuance of directions by the apex court to the respondents to deposit all the evidence relevant in this investigation. Those include the video-recordings of the statements of the victim and her relatives on September 14 and 19, the medico-legal evidence collected at the time of conducting the autopsy by Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, and grant protection to witnesses in the case and family members of the victim by the Central Reserve Police Force.

Hathras District Magistrate Caught on Video Asking Victim’s Family to Soften Stance

DM Praveen Laxkar also reportedly told the family on October 1 itself that there was no case of rape and indicated that they had concocted the matter to get compensation.

New Delhi: After a secretly recorded video of the Hathras district magistrate (DM) issuing a veiled threat to the Dalit gang rape victim’s father was leaked, the local administration has been increasing pressure on the family to change their statement.

The accused in this case are Thakurs, an influential upper caste community.

On Thursday, what appeared to be a leaked video showing DM Praveen Laxkar at the house of the victim’s family was released on social media platforms by Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The 19-year-old Dalit woman had been dragged away from the fields where she was cutting grass and brutally raped by four Thakur men in her village on September 14. She succumbed to her injuries at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital two weeks later on September 29. Even with media on the ground, police forced the cremation of the victim after midnight on Wednesday (September 30), by locking up the family.

In the video that has been secretly shot, DM Laxkar is seen sitting inside the premises of the family’s residence and advising the father to soften his stance.

“Half of the media people have left today, the other half will leave by tomorrow. Only we will stand with you. It is up to you whether you want to change your statement or not,” Laxkar is heard saying.

Laxkar is also known to have enforced the illegal azaan ban in Hathras, along with other DMs, which the Allahabad high court overturned.

The victim’s family has been demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Incidentally, the entire village has been sealed from outside, with no media personnel being allowed to visit and talk to the family. As per latest media reports, the family claimed that mobile phones of all members have been taken away. Seema Kushwaha, who was Nirbhaya’s lawyer in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case, said that the administration did not allow her to meet the family.

 

Following outrage over the video, Laxkar spoke to news agency ANI and denied that he tried to make them change their statements.

“Their main point of apprehension is that the convicted must be punished and be hanged to death. I tried to allay their fears and told them that the matter would be tried in a fast track court,” he added.

The father of the victim, according to media reports, claimed that he was being forced to go to the local police station and sign a document saying they were “satisfied by the police probe” in the case. The document had already been signed by three other family members on instructions of police officials.

“But we are not satisfied with this. My daughter’s case should be probed by the CBI and monitored by a Supreme Court judge. We are under pressure from officials and confined to our home while the media has also been disallowed from meeting us,” he said, as per a video shared by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Twitter.

 

The Wire managed to speak with the brother of the victim who claimed that the family was under constant surveillance of police authorities. “Our family is under detention. We cannot get out of the house. Can’t go to the bathroom. Cannot talk to anybody.”

According to the victim’s sister-in-law, the district magistrate had been intimidating the family during his interaction at their house. “Yesterday, he took my father-in-law from the house and told him to tell media that everything is fine and that there is no pressure”.

The DM allegedly told the family that pursuing the case may prove counter-productive for them, Dainik Bhaskar reported.

Also read: From Ayodhya to Hathras, a New Criminal Justice System for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’

“When I asked him, ‘How could we not see her?’ he said, ‘Do you understand the meaning of post mortem?’ He said that in a post mortem they split the skull, they throw away the innards… They cut from the throat to the abdomen with a knife,” the sister-in-law told Bhaskar, of her argument with the district magistrate.

Also read: What the UP Police Hopes to Gain With Its ‘No Evidence of Rape’ Claim in Hathras Case

He also apparently told the family on October 1 itself that there was no case of rape and indicated that they had concocted the matter to get compensation.

“The DM was saying that it was rape, and if she died from the corona, would you have gotten compensation? He was speaking as if we were waiting for a person to die. Do we need their compensation after such an accident? If he had a daughter and this happened to her, would he take compensation? When I said this to him, he started to shout and scold me”.

The local authorities’ claim that the criminal case was not a matter of rape was bolstered by Uttar Pradesh additional director general of police (law and order) Prashant Kumar. “Post mortem report says the victim died due to her neck injury. The forensic science laboratory (FSL) report hasn’t found sperm in samples, making it clear that some people twisted the matter to stir caste-based tension. Such people will be identified and legal action will be taken,” news agency ANI quoted Kumar as having said.

Petition in SC Seeks CBI or SIT Probe Into Hathras Crime, Transfer of Trial Outside UP

The news comes in the direct aftermath of reports that Uttar Pradesh police cremated the victim’s body without allowing her family to see her.

New Delhi: A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court asking for stronger investigation into the Hathras brutality by four upper caste Thakur men that led to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman. LiveLaw has reported that the petition also seeks for the transfer of the trial from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.

The news comes in the direct aftermath of reports that Uttar Pradesh police cremated the victim’s body without allowing her family to see her. The Wire has reported her family’s allegations, that they were locked up while the cremation was held at 3 am, without the rituals that the family wanted honoured.

Advocate Sanjeev Malhotra, who filed the petition on behalf of social activist Satyama Dubey, was quoted by LiveLaw as having said that the statement of the UP police that the cremation was carried out “as per the wishes of the family” is false. Successive ground reports by several outlets have in fact proven that the victim’s family were denied the right to organise her cremation.

“The plea underlines the issue that the police authorities have not performed their duties and are shielding the accused. Additionally, the family of the victim is being victimised by upper-caste persons,” LiveLaw quoted Malhotra as having said.

The Wire’s report, too, notes the victim’s family as having alleged that the rest of the village has not communicated with them since the crime. Reports have also said that one of the upper-caste accused, Sandeep, would harass the girl so consistently that she could not step out of the house.

The petition thus seeks the transfer of investigation to CBI or a Special Investigation Team under a sitting or a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a high court.

Opposition Says Hathras Rape Is Proof of Exploitative Caste Hierarchy Under Adityanath’s Rule

Under pressure, the UP chief minister has set up an SIT which has been asked to submit its report in seven days.

New Delhi: A day after opposition parties expressed outrage at the death of the 19-year-old Dalit woman after four men raped her in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the state’s chief minister Adityanath, and asked for the “strictest” punishment to the accused.

The woman had suffered multiple fractures and her tongue had also been cut off by the perpetrators of the crime died at the Safdarjung hospital on Monday, after getting initial treatment at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital of the Aligarh Muslim University. She was attacked by four men when she had gone to collect firewood on September 14. The accused persons ‒ Sandip, Ramu, Lavkush and Ravi ‒  belong to the Thakur caste and have been arrested.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, the UP police did not let the woman’s family see her body, locked all family members up, and cremated her body. This state administration’s highhandedness and alleged insensitivity has been at the receiving end of criticisms from various quarters.

The matter has snowballed into a political controversy with the opposition parties launching protests across the state and in the national capital. Adityanath has been facing much flak from the opposition and civil society alike over his handling of law and order situation in the state, which have been witness to multiple incidents of rapes, murders, and other brutal crimes in the recent past.

The opposition’s hue and cry over the 19-year-old’s death has once again foregrounded the deteriorating law and order situation in India’s most populous state. Anti-BJP parties have also highlighted further calcification of the exploitative caste hierarchy in the state under Adityanath rule. The fact that all the accused in the case belong to the feudal Thakur community, which is perceived to have become powerful under the BJP chief minister ‒ who also belongs to the same caste group, has lent further weight to the opposition campaign.

Also Read: UP Police Locked Us Up, Didn’t Allow Us to See Body, Cremated Her at 3 am: Hathras Victim’s Family

One may note that several clashes between the Thakur and Dalit communities have been reported in the western region of UP in the past few years.

The Congress has been at the forefront of a state-wide campaign against the BJP over the issue. The  party’s general secretary in-charge of the state Priyanka Gandhi pointed out a pattern of such crimes of sexual violence against women while highlighting similar incidents in Shahajahanpur and Gorakhpur in the recent past.

“The law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh has completely deteriorated. There is no sign of any safety for women. Criminals are roaming freely,” she alleged, demanding strict punishment for the guilty.


“Instead of protecting the victim and her family, your government became complicit in depriving her of every single human right, even in death. You have no moral right to continue as chief minister,” she said in another tweet.

In a series of tweets, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi held the UP government responsible for the death of the Dalit woman. “All this is a shameful move of the UP government to suppress Dalits and show them their ‘place’ in the society. Our fight is against this hateful thinking,” Rahul Gandhi said in a Hindi tweet.

He had previously tweeted, “A daughter of India is raped, facts are suppressed, and in the end the right to funeral is also taken away from her family. It is abusive and unjust.”


The Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday demanded that the accused should be tried in a fast-track court. “The news of the death of Dalit victim after gangrape in Hathras, UP is very saddening. The government should provide all possible help to the victim’s family and ensure fast punishment to the culprits by prosecuting them in a fast track court. This is the demand of the BSP,” she had said.

On Wednesday, she slammed the state police for cremating the woman’s body without her family’s consent. She sought the intervention of the Supreme Court immediately after the alleged police’s highhandedness and said that the “attitude of the UP government and police reflects poorly on their intention to ensure justice for the woman.”

Terming the Adityanath government as “insensitive” to the plight of women in the state, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “There is no hope left from this insensitive government.”

He also lashed out at the police’s “insensitive action” on Tuesday night and alleged that the police officials were acting under pressure from the state government.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that the death of the Dalit woman was a matter of shame for the country. “The death of Hathras victim is shameful for the entire society, country as well as for all the governments. It’s highly sad that so many daughters are being sexually assaulted and we have not been able to protect them. The guilty must be hanged at the earliest,” he tweeted.

Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal demanded capital punishment for the guilty. “They broke her spine and cut her tongue. She died in Delhi today. Everyday, women are falling prey to the crimes and the government is least bothered.” She also shot off a letter to the Chief Justice of India S.A.Bobde to seek his immediate intervention.

The Hathras case has become a tipping point for many who have been highlighting police inaction in recent incidents of rape in Lakhimpur Kheri, Maharajganj, and other districts. Many other opposition leaders and celebrities have come out in support of the quest for justice in the case. Many among them slammed the state government for failing to ensure a safe environment for women in UP.

Communist Party of India (ML-Liberation) leader and feminist activist Kavita Krishnan in her tweet said that the Hathras incident was not an exception, but that it rather reflects the systemic violence that Dalits face in their everyday lives.

“With 51,824 cases of crime against SCs registered under PoA Act between 2009 and 2018, UP ranks 1st among in the category with 22.38% of total crime. Speak about justice in those 51824 (& more) cases if you’re interested in justice for the Hathras victim,” she pointed out, while highlighting a poor conviction rate in such cases.

The CPI(M) politburo issued a statement saying the woman’s death is the result of the “callous approach” of the government.

“This barbaric caste based rape crime is reflective of the utter lawlessness in UP under the BJP Government and the patronage given to casteist and reactionary forces leading to a big increase in crimes against dalits and women. The recent NCRB report confirms this.

The CPI(M) demands action against the police personnel who refused to file an FIR and also against those responsible for the cruel act of forcible cremation,” the statement says.

Even as Uttar Pradesh CM Adityanath set up a three-member Special Investigation Team to probe the case, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya seemed to hint that the accused could be killed in an ‘encounter’. The SIT has been asked to give its report in seven days.

Vijayvargiya made an apparent reference to the killing of gangster Vikas Dubey, who was killed after the vehicle carrying him toppled. The police claimed Dubey shot at the cops, but many observers believe that he was killed in a fake encounter.

Reporting Crimes on Women: What Are the Laws and Why Are They Broken Every Time

Several news websites, including Janbharat Times, Telugu Circles, Bharat Headlines and Publicist Recorder used the same viral – and fake – photographs of a woman who was not the Hathras victim, in their reports on the incident.

New Delhi: Amid real life protests and social media outrage for the Dalit woman who succumbed to her injuries after she was brutally gangraped and injured in Hathras, a picture of a young woman went viral. Many social media users, some with several thousands of followers, tweeted it with outpourings of anger and condolence. However, a fact check by India Today found that the viral photo is of another girl, entirely unrelated to the incident.

Several news websites, including Janbharat Times, Telugu Circles, Bharat Headlines and Publicist Recorder used the same viral – and fake – photographs in their reports on the incident.

A screenshot of the Janbharat Times’ report with the fake image of the Hathras victim.

During the course of debates on gender violence, a heavily discussed aspect is the role of media and how coverage is taking place.

While in some cases, such as in the 2012 ‘Nirbhaya’ gangrape and murder case, relentless media reporting contributed to bringing the case to light, it is common knowledge that enthusiasm to cover the details of the case can result in the survivor’s identity being revealed to much emotional and other cost. 

Ethical journalism and guidelines of reporting

Similar to the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors which says never say no to a patient and respect the hard-won knowledge hence achieved, even journalists, though not formally, are required to follow five principles of ethical journalism —  truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity and accountability.

Even as Section 228A was inserted in the Indian Penal Code by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, in 1983, to prevent social victimisation or ostracism of the victim of a sexual offence, its compromise in the name of freedom of expression was widely prevalent, even during the coverage of the 2012 Delhi rape case.

The victim’s name was revealed, her photographs (taken both before and after the crime) were circulated by media houses, without any post-processing efforts like blurring, for more than a week. It was only later that a number of pseudonyms such as ‘Nirbhaya’ and ‘Amaanat’ were adopted by media organisations. Even those, many have argued, attempt to make heroes out of a woman whose basic rights had been grievously trampled upon.

Also read: The Media Needs To Rethink How It Reports Rape

Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code prohibits publishing the name of the victim or survivor in rape cases, including all categories of rape cases such as gang-rape, rape by a man with his wife during separation, rape by a public servant of a woman in his custody.

In case of the death of the victim, her next of kin can allow her name to be revealed by making a written statement to that effect to a registered welfare organisation. As per the law, the identity of the victim can be revealed in specific cases if the concerned police officers issue such a written order, or if the survivor states in writing that her name can be revealed.

The 2012 Delhi rape victim’s mother, notably, went on air saying that she did not object to her name being made public.

In January 2018, the abduction, rape, and murder case of an 8-year-old child in Kathua came to light. Social media saw an influx of messages with a hashtag that made her name public and several news outlets too used her name. In April 2018, the Supreme Court urged the media not to sensationalise rape cases and maintain a cap on the breadth of detailed coverage in terms of visual description.

The law has been enforced since 1983 and was strongly reinforced by the I&B ministry in 2012.

Apart from the IPC, several other guidelines have also been issued by media bodies to this end. One of them is Section 6 (ii) of the Press Council of India’s “Norms of Journalistic Conduct.”

These guidelines deal with the requirement to withhold the name of rape survivors from media reports and also reiterates that the names, photographs of the victims or other particulars leading to their identity shall not be published.

Why then, does media have to be reminded of the guidelines it has to follow and more importantly the ethics it has to comply with?

A peer-reviewed research paper by BMC Women’s Health titled ‘Media coverage of violence against women in India: a systematic study of a high profile rape case,’ published in January 2015, revealed that “the global media response of the  December 16th gang-rape in India resulted in highly inconsistent depiction of the events.”

It also mentioned that of the 534 published media reports which they identified, only 351 met their eligibility criteria.

Interestingly, as per the paper, the number of media reports increased after the victim had passed away. 

The authors’ content analysis revealed significant discrepancies between various media reports. “These findings suggest that although the spread of information through media is fast, it has major limitations,” the paper recognised.

Rape Nation’: Meena Kandasamy Poem on the Hathras Case

In a land where Dalits cannot rule, they cannot rage, or even mourn. This has happened before, this will happen again.

Trigger warning: Descriptions of violence, rape

In Hathras, cops barricade a raped woman’s home,
hijack her corpse, set it afire on a murderous night,
deaf to her mother’s howling pain. In a land where
Dalits cannot rule, they cannot rage, or even mourn.
This has happened before, this will happen again.

What does that fire remember? The screams of satis
dragged to their husband’s pyres and brides burnt alive;
the wails of caste-crossed lovers put to death,
the tongue-chopped shrieking of raped women.
This has happened before, this will happen again.

Manu said once, so his regiment repeat today:
all women are harlots, all women are base;
all women seek is sex, all they shall have is rape.
Manu gives men a licence plate, such rape-mandate.
This has happened before, this will happen again.

This has happened before, this will happen again.
Sanatana, the only law of the land that’s in force,
Sanatana, where nothing, nothing ever will change.
Always, always a victim-blaming slut-template,
a rapist-shielding police-state, a caste-denying fourth estate.

This has happened before, this will happen again.

UP Police Locked Us Up, Didn’t Allow Us to See Body, Cremated Her at 3 am: Hathras Victim’s Family

The Wire travels to the house of the Dalit victim in a village dominated by upper caste Thakur households.

Hathras, Uttar Pradesh: For a fortnight, the Dalit gang rape victim from Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district fought for her life. Her limbs were paralysed and her tongue was brutally wounded.

Those arrested for the crime were four upper caste Thakur men, Sandeep (20), his uncle Ravi (35) and their friends Luv Kush (23) and Ramu (26). Even before the latest violence, Sandeep had allegedly harassed the victim so much that she would scarcely leave the house.

She breathed her last on the morning of September 29.

As the country burst into outrage, fresher hell lay waiting for the family of the woman.

On Wednesday morning, family said that they were not allowed to even look at the victim’s dead body before police hurriedly completed the last rites in the dead of the night, without any rituals that the family would have liked to perform.

When this correspondent reached the house of the 19-year-old woman who had been the victim of such grievous sexual and physical assault by four Thakur men of her village that she eventually succumbed to her injuries – her family were more angry than sad.

Distraught, the victim’s mother attempted to speak several times but failed. Eventually, she said, “My daughter is unlucky to have been born in a village of Thakurs.” ‘Thakurs’ are a feudal and aggressive ‘upper’ caste group identified by their surname. The community enjoys political influence in the state and the chief minister too belongs to the Thakur community.

The victim’s mother. Photo: Ismat Ara

Family not allowed to catch last glimpse

The family alleged that at around 2.30 am, they were locked up in the house by Uttar Pradesh Police and the body of their daughter was taken away for cremation.

“They burnt her body without any proper Hindu rituals at about 3 am. Didn’t she deserve even that much dignity?” asked a family member.

“Her mother kept asking the police to allow her to see her face one last time. Do those officers not have daughters? Why did they not understand our wish to see her one last time before we bid her farewell?” asked her paternal aunt.

She told The Wire, “We folded our hands in front of the police but they were not convinced. We spread our pallus and begged them to let us see her. But this was not granted. If Yogi ji (Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath) had children, he would have understood our plight. What will he understand about losing a child?” 

The victim’s aunt said that she was the youngest in the family, and loved by all. “She was the guriya (doll) of the house. You know the happiness the children feel when they are given dolls to play with? That’s the kind of happiness she brought into our house. She was an ideal daughter who would fulfil all her responsibilities without any question.”

The Hathras victim’s aunt and sister-in-law. Photo: Ismat Ara

The victim was given minimal responsibilities in the household. When others went to the fields to work, she stayed at home with her sister-in-law. The aunt said, “Her only work was to fetch water and sometimes, the fodder to feed the cows. She would also clean the shed and dust the house.”

Also read: Average 87 Rape Cases Daily, Over 7% Rise in Crimes Against Women in 2019: NCRB Data

Chronology

On September 14, a gang of four men from the village’s Thakur community allegedly lifted her from the agricultural fields where she had gone with her mother. Her mother was hard of hearing, and said that she did not notice the scuffle. In a short while, she discovered her her daughter in a pool of blood, a few feet away from her. The fact that the accused acted without fear in spite of the mother’s presence a few feet from the victim is a glaring testament to the impunity they enjoy and exercise in the village.

She was badly assaulted – her tongue wounded, her spinal cord and neck severally bruised, which reportedly left her paralysed in all four limbs. Initially, no rape cases were lodged but only a case of attempt to murder and one under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Later, on regaining conscious, she gave a statement to police, and a case of rape was registered. She was admitted first to a hospital in Hathras and later moved to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh.   

By September 27, all the four persons named by her as her assaulters were arrested. They are now in judicial custody.

However, on September 28, as her condition began deteriorating, she was rushed to the Safdurjung Hospital in Delhi. Hours later, she passed away due to a cardiac arrest. The police refused to hand over her body to the family. By then, several activists from various groups had reached the hospital and begun a dharna demanding justice for her.

Late in the night, the family was allowed to carry the body home one last time, for the mother to see her. But the actual turn of events did not allow for that.

Bhim Army and Congress Party workers stage a protest outside Safdarjung Hospital over the death of Hathras gangrape victim, in New Delhi, on September 29, 2020. Photo: PTI

Family suffered sustained caste-based harassment

Thakurs, the caste group to which the accused belong, form the majority in her village along with Brahmins. Out of about 200 houses, only four are Dalit households. The immediate family, fellow villagers and relatives gathered at the house have all experienced caste-based ill treatment. The main accused, Sandeep’s father, had spent three months in jail under the SC/ST Act for assaulting the grandfather of the victim, the year she was born. As per some reports, Sandeep is said to have harassed the victim so much that she stopped going out of the house altogether.

None of the five children of the house, including the victim, have completed their school education. Her brother said that the lack of formal education in their family was a point of regret but was doubtful if the victim could have got it even if she was alive. “Earlier, three of my sisters would tie a rakhi each on my wrist. Now only two will,” he said.

Family members and relatives mourn the death of a 19-year-old woman, who was gang-raped two weeks ago, in Hathras district, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. The Dalit teen died at a hospital in Delhi on Tuesday morning. Photo: PTI

Significantly, the family also said they no longer feel safe in the village and would rather leave it. “No matter what now, we can’t live in the village anymore. What’s the point of living here anymore anyway? The neighbours, the Thakurs of the village, have not even asked us once about her,” said the victim’s sister-in-law.

“We will have to leave the village at any cost to avoid any further confrontation and violence on us. Our demand is that the culprits be hanged. If that doesn’t happen, the others will get more courage to commit such a crime,” said the brother.

He said the family voted for the BJP in the last assembly elections but they would not “repeat the same mistake.” 

“If they are not with us, why should we support them?”

“All I want is justice for my daughter now and security for my family,” added the father.

In Hathras town, the situation has been tense since the morning. Around noon, protesters gathered to agitate against the incident and reportedly pelted stones.