Nangal case: students, activists compare incident to Hathras case, seek swift justice

Activists protesting at Jantar Mantar against the Nangal incident, in Delhi on Wednesday. SANDEEP SAXENA

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Wednesday took suo motu congnisance of the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old Dalit girl in the Capital. The commission said that after meeting the family of the victim, NCSC chairman Vijay Sampla met district officials to recommend releasing compensation as per provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2016.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat also met the family of the victim and wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah requesting urgent action. She said that a “lie” is being spread that the girl’s mother agreed to the hasty cremation, adding that it was reminiscent of what happened in the Hathras rape case — in which a 20-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped and killed by four men in Uttar Pradesh’s Boolgarhi village last September. The woman later died in Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital.

A controversy erupted after the U.P. Police and the district administration cremated the woman without the consent of her family.

Ms. Karat said that instead of helping the minor girl’s family who were in a state of shock, the police detained them at the station for several hours. She demanded action against the officers involved.

‘Govt. is duty-bound’

“It is indeed regrettable that you [Mr. Shah] have not intervened yet in this case even though Delhi police is directly under your ministry. My request is that you kindly ensure that justice is done. The parents cannot be ever compensated for the loss of their beloved daughter. But the government is duty-bound to ensure them financial support,” Ms. Karat said in her letter.

Meanwhile, several protests were held at Jantar Mantar by student groups demanding that the culprits in the case be punished without delay.

The Students’ Federation of India, along with Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch and the All India Democratic Women’s Association said that sexual violence against women is a larger problem concerning a patriarchal society wherein women are rendered inferior and powerless. They added that Dalit women are among the most powerless and oppressed in society owing to their gender and caste identity.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh said that dalit women are doubly oppressed. “We live in a political environment in which caste is being reinstated into our social order with its former vigour.”

All India Students’ Association Delhi vice-president Madhurima Kundu said: “The country witnessed how the Hathras accused were shielded by the RSS-BJP. In Delhi, Delhi Police, which is under Amit Shah has failed to ensure the safety and security of women in the Capital.”