The incident in Uttar Pradesh where BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar accused of raping a young woman in Uttar Pradesh is said to be roaming freely and the victim’s father has died in custody only exposes the hollowness of the BJP’s hackneyed claim in its “Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” slogan. It has been made worse by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s decision to withdraw the rape case against former Union Minister Swami Chinmayananda. This betrays the insensitivity of the U.P. government to issues relating to women’s dignity, honour and safety.
While “encounter killings” of alleged criminals has become the order of the day in U.P., withdrawing pending criminal cases against BJP leaders bears testimony to the Adityanath government’s total contempt for the rule of law, which he otherwise swears by every day.
S.K. Choudhury,
Bengaluru
The case of rape and custodial death case reveal the sorry state of our law and order system which invariably gives way following political pressure. he casual nature of investigation, unsatisfactory protection to the victim’s family, a lack of accountability and the ease with which allegations are foisted on the powerless renders the system short of trust. Incidents such as these are what make the case for police reforms even stronger to make the police carry out what it is has been sanctioned to do — aid in the disbursal of justice.
Maitreyi Srivastava,
Bhopal
The death of the father of the rape victim makes us hang our heads in shame. It is a blatant violation of the principles of natural justice. His death is a great loss to the family as adds insult to injury. It is nothing short of a murder by the state. The perpetrators of this heinous crime deserve severe punishment.
M. Somasekharprasad,
Badvel, Andhra Pradesh
