BJP’s Governments of UP and MP must take action against perpetrators
In a gruesome incident of casteist violence, an Adivasi woman was set on fire by a group of upper caste people in BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district. The horrifying act of violence took place on Saturday afternoon when the woman, objected to the accused person’s move to encroach a six bigha land in Dhanoria village of Bamori that her family was handed over to them by the local administration in May. Chillingly, a video, shot by the accused, shows the woman crying in pain after they poured diesel and set her ablaze! The woman’s husband was also attacked by the same group of people earlier and a first information report was lodged. More disturbingly, a week before the incident, the family of the woman had sought protection from the police, citing threats from the accused persons. Shamefully, MP police took no action!
Just few days back, a Dalit youth was blown up by a bomb planted under his cot in Gopramau Panchayat of Mal area, a rural area of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. He worked as a labourer in Haridwar and had returned home. He was sleeping on a cot outside his house when the bomb detonated. He was rushed to the community health centre and then to Lucknow trauma centre where he breathed his last.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Crimes in India report of 2020 records that a person from a Scheduled Caste (SC) faced crime every 10 minutes in India, cumulating to a total of 50,291 cases registered in 2020, an increase of 9.4% from the previous year. Crimes against scheduled tribe (ST) communities were also increased by 9.3% to a total of 8,272 cases in 2020.
We have also not forgotten the horrors of Hathras – Kathua – Unnao. In Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, we witnessed how the entire state apparatus jumped into protecting the persons accused of rape and murder of a Dalit girl. The family members of the victim were intimidated, and her dead body was cremated in a covert way by Uttar Pradesh police to cover up the entire incident. Her parents were not allowed to even participate or perform the last rituals. The State machinery used all the ploys to protect the accused. In Kathua, a 4-year-old girl was raped and murdered. Rallies were organized to support the perpetrators. Local legislators and BJP leaders participated in those rallies. In Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, the local BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, raped a minor girl, and manipulated the state machinery to intimidate the family. Her immediate family members were killed under mysterious consequences. It was only after common people started protesting against the state shielding of the rape accused, Kuldeep Singh Sengar was arrested and finally convicted.
We have already heard the self-congratulatory rhetoric by the BJP and godi media of having an Adivasi woman President in the 75th year of Independence. But if we just lift the veil of this rhetoric, this grim reality caste and gender violence and impunity will stare you in the face. While the rhetoric is big news in the mainstream media, the reality is greeted with studied shameful silence!
