Tuesday, July 19, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Rape and murder in Uttar Pradesh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14058814

17 July 2011 Last updated at 23:16 GMT

Rape and murder in Uttar Pradesh

A spate of exceptionally brutal rapes in the northern state of Uttar
Pradesh has shocked India. Many of the victims were young girls. The
BBC's Geeta Pandey reports from Lucknow.

For Sarika, 16, it was like any other day when she went out to the
fields for her evening ablutions with her friend Chhaya.

It was a cold February evening and it was pitch dark. "I was feeling a
little scared so I wanted to get back quickly," she tells me.

On the way back, she says, she was attacked by Shivam and three other
men from the village.

"Shivam grabbed my hand and asked me to marry him. I said: 'No, how
can I marry you? We live in the same village, you are like my
brother.' I kicked him and tried to run away.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
Roop Rekha Verma

These cases are so brutal - we thought such things happened only
in novels and films"

Roop Rekha Verma Activist

"With the help of his friends, he dragged me to a secluded area and
began to assault me with knives and axes. I was conscious for some
time, but once they cut me on my head and neck, I fainted. When I
became conscious, I was in hospital."

Sarika shows me her injuries - a fist-size wound on her scalp, her jaw
which has been sewn together, her right hand which had to be
re-attached, her right earlobe from where big chunks are missing, and
long scars on her arms.

Shivam has been arrested, but the others are still free. One told the
BBC he had been wrongly accused.

A terrified Sarika and her family have abandoned their home and land
in Fatehpur district's Udrauli village to stay with relatives in
another village nearly 45km (30 miles) away.
'Crimes escalating'

The assault on Sarika is one among the hundreds of rapes and attempted
rapes this year in the state.

"It's a very difficult situation here," says Roop Rekha Verma of Sajhi
Duniya (Shared World), a Lucknow-based organisation which works with
women.
Sarika shows her wounds Sarika sustained multiple injuries

"There is a lot of violence: Crimes are escalating; gender problems
are increasing; girls are being attacked, both in rural and urban
areas," she says.

Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state with 200 million people.
It is also home to a staggering number of poor - official statistics
show more than 60 million people here live on less than $1.25 (75p) a
day.

Poverty also makes a community more vulnerable. Many victims were
raped or assaulted when they went to the fields because, like millions
of Indians, they have no access to toilets at home.

Uttar Pradesh has always had a high rate of crime, but it is the
viciousness of the recent attacks that has stunned people most.

"These cases are so brutal that we wouldn't have believed that they
could happen - we thought such things could happen only in novels and
films," Mrs Verma says.

SR Darapuri, vice-president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties
(PUCL) in Uttar Pradesh, says most of the rape victims are poor women
and girls in remote villages. Many, he says, are low-caste Dalits
(formerly known as "untouchables").
Continue reading the main story
RECENT RAPE CASES

20 June - Salia, 11, is raped and killed on her way back from
school. A 23-year-old villager is arrested and confesses
19 June - A 35-year-old woman is gang-raped by five men inside her
home. Afraid she will identify them, the men burn her to death
17 June - A 14-year-old girl is stabbed in the eye by her two
attackers when she resists their attempts to rape her
10 June - Sonam, 14, is raped and murdered, allegedly by police.
Her body is found hanging inside a police station
5 February - 16-year-old Sarika's ears are cut and one hand cut
off when she resists her attackers

Anger and grief over India murders

"I analysed the rape figures for 2007 and I found that 90% of victims
were Dalits and 85% of Dalit rape victims were underage girls," he
says.

"It is well known that until not very long ago, in certain areas of
the state's southern Bundelkhand region, new brides of Dalit farmhands
had to sleep with their rich, high-caste landowners on their wedding
night."

Mr Darapuri says the practice no longer exists - but Dalit women and
girls remain vulnerable to predators.

Even though Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister, Kumari Mayawati, is a
Dalit woman and caste discrimination has long been outlawed,
campaigners say the state's largely patriarchal society still uses
feudal structures to ensure that women remain marginalised and
oppressed.
Election issue

Campaigners say another common theme in these rape cases is that most
of the attackers are people with money and often political influence
too.

The recent rape cases - and press coverage - have put the state
administration under pressure. The timing is crucial - state elections
are due in a few months.
Sarika's family has moved to another village Sarika's family has
received high-profile political support

Earlier this year, Rahul Gandhi, an MP for the Congress Party which is
in opposition in Uttar Pradesh, visited Sarika and her family and
vowed to get them justice.

Last week, he visited the family of 14-year-old girl Sonam, who was
allegedly raped and murdered by the police inside a police station.

Party leaders say crimes against women will be a major issue in the polls.

"There's a huge crisis of confidence: The general perception is that
women are most insecure here," state Congress leader Rita Bahuguna
Joshi told the BBC.

Mrs Joshi is appalled that Ms Mayawati has not visited any of the
victims or their families. "She should have gone to some of the places
where these crimes took place. She should have visited the victims.
The least a woman leader can do is express genuine sympathy."
'Taboo'

Mrs Joshi says "at the moment, Uttar Pradesh is one of the worst
places to be a woman".

Her claim is borne out by official statistics. According to National
Crime Records Bureau figures for 2009, 1,759 women were raped in the
state. That is almost five rapes a day.

Officials, however, say that is not bad for a population of 200 million.

"We are the largest state in terms of population, but if you take the
percentage of rapes, we are number 28th in the country," Inspector
General of Police GP Sharma told the BBC, stressing that the incidence
of rape in the state was very low.

The statement has incensed activists.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
GP Sharma, senior police officer in Uttar Pradesh

We have taken up the issue of training of policemen... so that
they are more responsive to women "

GP Sharma Inspector General of Police (Crime)

They say statistics do not reveal the real picture and only a tiny
fraction of the crimes are reported and registered. In traditional
Indian society, virginity before marriage is cherished and rape
carries great stigma.

"In society, there are taboos about making a complaint, a woman going
to a police station, about a woman talking about her rape," Mrs Verma
says.

Mr Darapuri, who is a retired police officer, says the police also
keep the figures down.

"The police do not want to register cases because they have been told
by their political bosses to keep the crime figures low."

For every case that gets registered, he says, at least nine go unrecorded.

"The official statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau
are just the tip of the iceberg. I get daily calls about atrocities,
including rapes, and in a majority of cases, police do not register
them."

Mr Sharma admits that under-reporting of crime is a problem, but
insists the government is working to address it.

"We have taken up the issue of training of policemen, we are working
on their gender sensitisation so that they are more responsive to
women. The state has 200,000 policemen; we have started new
recruitment to double their numbers."

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mayawati has announced a month-long campaign
focusing on crimes against women.

She has promised swifter convictions in rape cases and says she will
tour the state in August to reassure women they are safe under her
rule.

But Sarika says Ms Mayawati's words mean little to her until all her
attackers are caught and punished.

"I want them to be caught. The way they have ruined my life, I want
their lives ruined as well.

"I want the death penalty for them so that people realise what will
happen to them if they commit a similar crime. People should be made
afraid. Otherwise, they will do what was done to me."


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