Hathras fallout
The strategy by the Uttar Pradesh government to level the charge of a ‘conspiracy’ by some groups and individuals to instigate caste and communal violence’ in the State is nothing but this — a diversionary tactic (Page 1, “U.P. police allege bid to trigger caste violence”, October 6). The State government needs to answer these questions: Why was the girl from Hathras, who was practically mutilated, cremated in the early hours of the day and in such a tearing hurry, violating, in the process, the rights of her family? Who ordered the girl’s cremation and why? Why was the victim’s family isolated? Why were political leaders who wanted to console the victim’s family not allowed to meet them initially? It is surprising that most of the very articulate and senior women Ministers in the Union cabinet have not said a word about the incident.
A. Jainulabdeen,
Chennai
It appears that women’s safety has become a casualty in Uttar Pradesh. What is worrisome is that the police appear to be hand in glove with the State in attempting to deny justice to the victim and her family. The State administration is in a state of deep slumber while the rest of India is in a state of shock. Ironically, the protectors of the law unabashedly shield the perpetrators of crimes.
P.K. Varadarajan,
Chennai
It may not be an exaggeration to say the cases of assault against women are on the rise in India, and most of us are reacting only when the degree of injury inflicted on the victim or survivor shakes the human conscience.
It is worrying that crime against women is not being given the attention it deserves. It is akin to inflicting a grievous wound on the nation. Women in India need to be safe anywhere and at all times.
Mritunjay Pathak,
Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh
One shudders to think of the pain and the mental agony the victim would have undergone. It is jungle raj in Uttar Pradesh where the perpetrators of crime are safe and where the law of the land appears to be for the upper castes. After Hathras, the BJP’s slogan “ Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao ” cannot sound more hollow. People who do not raise their voice against atrocities on women are only silently acknowledging acts of violence.
G.B. Sivanandam,
Coimbatore
It is clear that there is still a long road ahead of India in purging our culture and its psyche of the deeply embedded toxicity of male dominance. The case mirrors a typical caste-ridden patriarchal set-up that bestows a sense of entitlement on a certain section of men. The horrific act has a familiar script — of lapses by the state. The much tom-tommed laws in trying to ensure better safety for women after the 2012 Delhi case are proving to be ineffective to deterring offenders and predators. . As long as the social prejudice that devalues women is not rooted out, it is not quite a country for women.
N. Sadhasiva Reddy,
Bengaluru
Lesson for POTUS
Not very long ago, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, dismissed the novel coronavirus as another flu and that it would go away. We in India had a more scientific mindset and hence were more respectful to this affliction. Mr. Trump, like a western cowboy, was acting plain macho and is now afflicted. The virus is having its merry course, irrespective of science or geography. An under-treatment Mr. Trump must be wondering if his bravado will now cost him his second term. Should he fortuitously find his way back to the Oval office post November 2020, one can only hope that he revises his assessment of the World Health Organization and underwrites the U.S.’s role as a responsible member in international institutions that promote scientific inquiry into the strange ways of nature and our ability to understand them.
R. Narayanan,
Navi Mumbai
Academic year
As a parent of B. Tech and Junior college students, I feel this academic year should be declared a ‘zero year’ due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, it has only been one-sided online classes without practicals and a truncated syllabus. Parents are worried as children are least interested in online classes. Educational institutions are more interested in the collection of fees for their own survival than the fate of students. Without field practicals, especially in engineering and science, one can only imagine the quality of students.
T. Kailash Ditya,
Hyderabad
