NCW slams UP govt for rising rape cases

PTI

New Delhi, 07 February 2011: In the backdrop of the brutal attack on a Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh, National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas on Monday slammed the state administration and police for their handling of the rape and abduction cases.

 

Vyas said there were no signs of justice being delivered to the victims and also blamed the police for conducting "shoddy" investigations and implicating innocent persons.

 

The Mayawati government is facing criticism over a number of cases including the Banda case involving the rape of a Dalit girl allegedly by a BSP MLA and the recent case in Bindaki where a 16-year-old Dalit girl had her nose and ear chopped off after she resisted a rape attempt by three men.

 

Allegations of abduction and murder have also been levelled against a BSP minister. "UP accounts for the most cases of rape and abduction. There is no justice for the victims. What police does is nab some innocent persons to just show that they have acted," Vyas said.

 

She asked why no rape case has been referred to fast track courts till now. In the latest incident in UP’s Bindaki area, a teenaged Dalit girl was seriously injured when three youths chopped off her nose, ear and a part of her hand after she resisted a rape attempt and raised an alarm.

 

An FIR has been lodged against the three accused but only one of them has been arrested. Last week, family members of a murdered civil engineer blocked Chief Minister Mayawati’s motorcade in Aligarh demanding that she take action against a state minister accused in the case.

 

Women’s rights activist Ranjana Kumari also attacked the UP government, saying Dalit girls do not appear to be safe in the state that is ironically governed by a Dalit woman chief minister.

 

"Just last month an MLA was arrested after having raped a girl after a campaign by women’s groups and the media and now again this is a more gruesome accident that has happened. One cannot imagine how Mayawati is keeping quiet about the whole situation. She is supposed to be a messiah of the Dalits and in her state this is happening with Dalit girls," she said.

 

She demanded an inquiry, especially against the minister accused of murder.