Members of several organisations on Tuesday gathered outside the Uttar Pradesh Bhawan here to raise their voice against the “silence and apathy” of the Yogi Adityanath-led government in the alleged attempt on life of Unnao rape survivor.
The protest was organised by Janwadi Mahila Samiti, All India Students’ Association and several other organisations. They demanded that the U.P. government lay bare the facts of the case.
Disappointed and outraged at the silence of the U.P. government, Khadijah, a human rights activist, said: “Whichever party they are from, whatever ideology they follow, they have to keep in mind that they are elected government representatives under the Constitution of India. As former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had once said, ‘no matter what, they should never forget their ‘ rashtradharma (national duty)’. He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.P. Chief Minster Yogi Adityanath should not forget this.
Holding the U.P. government answerable for the mismanagement of the case, Anjali Bhardwaj, a member of the National Campaign for People’s Right To Information, said: “It is an absolute shame the way things have unfolded and we are seeing a complete lack of answerability on the part of the U.P. government, a complete failure in providing security to the survivor despite her repeatedly informing them that her life along with that of her family was under threat.”
Many questions
“There are many questions we want answers to. What security arrangements were made for the survivor? What action has been taken on the FIR in the case till date?” Ms. Bharadwaj said. “The RTI Act was recently amended by the BJP in order to stop people from asking questions,” she said.
“It is pretty clear today that the ‘ beti bachao, beti padhao ’ campaign is actually ‘ beti darao, beti marwao ’ [Frighten the girls and get them killed]. The same BJP members who stood in support of Nirbhaya in 2012 are silent today. Instead of protecting the women of the country, the government seems to protect violators. The silence of the BJP government scares us, because we no longer feel we live in a democratic country but under the rule of dictators who will do as they please.” JNUSU president N. Sai Balaji said.
Speaking about the increasing incidents of rape and the “negligence” of the government on such issues, Rhea Jose, a member of CBCI (a Catholic NGO), said: “Rapes have become such a common occurrence in our country that people have been almost desensitised. This case was shocking for the sole reason that the government is not only silent on the issue but a member of the government is directly involved in the case. Such abuse of power by the government ends all hope.”
“We are filing a bunch of RTI reports. We want to know if the rape survivor had been granted any police protection and also why no policeman sustained injuries during the accident,” Amrita, a member of the National Campaign for People’s Right To Information, told The Hindu .
