Unnao, Kathua Rape Horrors Point to BJP Shielding the Accused

Beware of crowd. Beware. It has become the tactics of the political parties to plant crowd around you to intimidate you, smother your cry for justice and protect the perpetrators of most heinous crimes and hide them inside its ring of crowd. Beware of crowd. Today crowd is created and maintained in the name of supporters by the politicians to display their power and strength.

Crowd was made to surround and sympathise with alleged accused Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP MLA in Unnao for gang rape of a dalit minor girl. The father of rape victim was thrashed in police custody by the brother of the BJP MLA accused of rape as he had the temerity to complain, and succumbed to his injuries. Many days have passed. The rape incident dates back to June 2017. So far the accused has not been arrested inspite of FIR lodged and the imposition of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for immediate arrest. What does it mean? Are we supposed to accept that law is not applicable on accused of status and power? Is it applicable on common people like us only?

Crowd surrounded and followed the accused to CM Yogi’s residence in a cavalcade of 40 cars. What a grand display of power base! What the accused intended to show - the strength of his backing with a hint of swagger? His actions have so far been of a fearless goon due to the protection ring of crowd around him and his association with equally controversial, criminal background and powerful Raghuraj Pratap Singh known as Raja Bhaiya.

The state machinery was sleeping all throughout - inspite of unsuccessful suicide attempt by the rape victim in front of CM’s residence. The system rose out of slumber only after the death of victim’s father in police custody. By the time the system gave enough time to the accused to cause delay in arrest to fix and tamper the evidences. Accused has not been arrested yet. After SIT the case has been referred to CBI. Still more and more time has been arranged for the accused to fix the evidences. Had prompt action been taken by the police the call details of mobile would have helped alot in their investigation to trace the location of the accused on the day of crime.

The apathy of the state and the complicity of the police are on unabashed display in the incident. Let it be understood by all.

Crowd played a dominant role on another gang rape incident at Kathua, near Jammu is even more horrendous. The victim was an eight-year-old child of the nomadic Bakerwal tribe. She was kept hostage in a mandir and repeatedly gang raped including a police personnel for more than 4 days and killed. It did not concern the BJP leadership very much as the victim was a Muslim and the rapists were Hindus. It did not affect much the BJP leadership although the premises used by the Hindu a mandir for this heinous act. Where is their Hindutva outcry? I ask why the RSS, the BJP and those Hindu outfits have not raised their voice against desecration of mandir - using itas a place for sexual orgy?  It did not affect much the BJP leadership inspite of the chargesheet reporting one of the accused invited another accused on phone to come and enjoy if he wished to.

A crowd was created instead. Suddenly Hindu Ekta Manch is formed by Vijay Sharma, who according to information on the state BJP’s website is the party’s state secretary. Vijay Sharma took advantage of the unrest after gang rape for his own political gains and formed Hindu Ekta Manch for protecting the Hindu rape and murder accused. Among those who backed the outfit were Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga – who are BJP ministers in chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s cabinet. Indian tricolour flag is used for the first time in a rally in India in support of rapists. The participants in rally were shouting Jai Sri Ram, Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vandematram. The lawyers, the Bar Association also, the guardian of law and part of judiciary system became part of the crowd to obstruct the investigation team to file their chargesheet to court. It took the team full 6 hours to tear through the crowd to submit the charge sheet to the court. Again the crowd was planted to intimidate, obstruct and display muscle power to rise above the system and the Constitution. Would the government have acted the same way if the accused being a Muslim and victim a Hindu? And the place? A mandir. The inaction on the part of state with the complicity of state administration raise a very serious question on the intrusions of the government in power. Now the crowd do not show their faces as they are tucked under tri-colour. But one can see them to which direction they are marching.

The locals in Kargahar area of Bihar's Rohtas held a protest against the alleged rape of a six-year-old. As the alleged rapist being a Muslim the crowd was created against the alleged muslim rapist. According to police, the accused in the case has been arrested, but the enraged locals and one BJP leader are prompt in demanding a death sentence for him because the rapist is a Muslim. But the crowd in Kathua stood by the Hindu accused as the victim was a Muslim. How long our system will play the communal card and keep planting crowd around the victims of the system to intimidate them, eliminate them or keep them under constant threat?

Beware of crowd. Now it is used by the system as communal time bomb. Beware of crowd. Now it is used for covering the perpetrators of crime and to allow them time to destroy evidences of their misdeeds. Beware of crowd. Now it is used to obstruct the system to dispense her constitutional functions. More so, now it is used to intimidate the victims of the rotten system to either keep quiet or put to eternal silence. So whom are we supporting --- the political party or a system? Beware of crowd created by the political parties. Let us learn to ask for a clean and an effective system that works independent of political pressure so that victim of atrocities can tell the crowd, “beware of us. System is with us if the government we chose to rule is not with us”. Till then -- beware of crowd.