Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath seldom tires of saying how his term in office has made the state safe not just for women but also for buffalos and bulls.
However, the rape of a 12-year-old daily wage worker in Bhadarsa, district Ayodhya and police station of Purakalandar is talk of the town today. It was found that the victim was 12 weeks pregnant and she was brought to Lucknow’s Medical University for an abortion last Tuesday. A sample of the foetus has been taken for DNA testing which will further help in nabbing the rapist.
There has been a demand for a DNA test to nab the culprit. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said that without a DNA test in the Bhadarsa case of Ayodhya, the ruling party's allegations sound biassed.
Yadav accused the ruling party of using the incident to defame his party.
He said that allegations to defame the SP have been made without investigating the incident. The action of the police seems to be motivated by political malice.
Yadav has asked the government to immediately provide an assistance of Rs 20 lakh to the victim's family. On July 30 the police arrested Moid Khan, the owner of a bakery in Bhadarsa and his employee Raju Khan in connection with the crime.
On August 3, the Ayodhya district administration demolished Moid Khan’s bakery as an unlawful construction built over a pond. While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including the CM continue to target the I.N.D.I.A bloc and in particular its ally the SP, for giving a clean chit to the accused and for supporting a ‘paedophile’.
As far as the ruling party is concerned the alleged act demonstrates the ‘boys will be boys’ mindset of the SP.
Moid Khan is a SP member, and city president of the party in Bhadarsa. he is believed to be an aide to SP leader Awadhesh Prasad, the newly elected member of the Lok Sabha from Ayodhya.
The Political Slugfest Continues
The brutal rape of a minor is used as a slugfest by local politicians. The crime is being played out in public by leaders of different political parties to attract votes. How genuine is the concern for the pain and the future of the unfortunate victim is unknown.
The SP insists that Moid Khan has been falsely accused and dragged into the crime by political opponents. There is a demand for a DNA test to find out who is the real culprit instead of arresting people on the basis of allegations.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati had chipped in to taunt the SP by questioning her political opponent Yadav over his demand for the DNA test of the accused. “How many accused were subjected to DNA tests under the SP rule in UP?” Mayawati wants to know.
Caste And Religion
All the caste and religion cards are spread out on the table for the attention of voters before the upcoming by-polls to 10 assembly seats to be held in UP soon. Ever since the BJP lost the Ayodhya Lok Sabha seat in the last elections, it has been wondering how to win the state assembly seat in the area.
Since the rape victim belongs to the backward community of the Nishad and the accused is a Muslim the plot gets more dramatic by the day.
Minister and Nishad Party president Sanjay Nishad broke down in tears after meeting the victim and her family in Ayodhya. He has threatened to protest outside the SP office against the atrocity.
Hooligans Taking Over Flooded Streets
Another attack on the body, and dignity, of a woman occurred in Lucknow that has filled citizens with disgust. In a video gone viral on social media, a girl is seen riding pillion on a motorbike that had waded through a flooded road during a heavy downpour.
As the rider tried to navigate through the waterlogged road, a group of men had splashed the swelling street water on her. One of the guilty is seen walking up to the girl in the video to grope her, while the rider had struggled to get the bike out of the knee-deep water.
More men, perhaps 20 of them, had circled the woman causing her to fall into a flood of the filthy waters of overflowing drains, and heavy rains.
The majority online has expressed revulsion to the incident that occurred on a busy street and under the nose of the custodians of law.
One netizen commented that anti-social elements in UP have no fear of the police.
Who is Afraid of the Police?
Anti-social elements are not the only ones unafraid of the UP police. Stray animals continue to roam freely around the province. Stray animals have destroyed crops, caused road accidents and robbed farmers and villagers without care of police action.
The problem is particularly acute in rural areas where farmers rely on their crops for a livelihood. Stray animals are able to ruin an entire crop within hours, reducing farmers to beggary.
The problem of stray animals is a major financial burden on the farmers who are forced to spend money on fencing, guards, and other measures to protect their crops from stray animals. In the process of safeguarding their crops, farmers have also been injured or killed by stray animals.
Today many villagers are afraid to go out at night for fear of being attacked. The problem is that in recent times the population of animals in UP has increased by over 50 percent. This is due to a lack of animal shelters, and the lack of government support for animal welfare.
The animal shelters in the state to house all the stray animals are not enough. As a result an army of stray animals are forced to roam the streets, posing a danger to both people and property.
The government has built a number of animal shelters, but these shelters are often overcrowded and understaffed. According to the law it is illegal to abandon or mistreat animals, but the laws are rarely enforced.
It is difficult to understand why the authorities are unable to invest in increasing the number of animal shelters, providing financial assistance to farmers who have been affected by the problem of stray animals and finally educating the public about the problem of stray animals instead of just blaming each other for the problem?