State seems to be the rape center of India.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: The situation with murders and sexual assaults in Uttar Pradesh continues to worsen, as at least one new case of each has surfaced already this week.
In the state’s Sitapur district, a husband and wife were found hanging from a tree in the morning hours on Tuesday. There are conflicting reports as to the ages of the couple, with husband Shambu and wife Kamla being anywhere between 45 and 35 years of age, respectively. But the mystery surrounding exactly what happened that led to their deaths has police scrambling to put the pieces together.
What is known is that the couple, who were found in the Khairabad area’s Muserypur village, had gone out grocery shopping at some point on Monday evening, only to never return. They were then found dead the next morning. According to reports, Shambu was hung by his own lungi, while Kamla was hung by a noose fashioned out of the saree she was wearing.
As of yet, there is no indication that the couple, or at least Kamla, was sexually assaulted in any way before they were killed. While the police are saying that suicide seems to be the cause of death here, family members are imploring the police to investigate all possible leads, saying that murder is what likely killed the couple. The family has told police that they know of absolutely no reason for Shambu and Kamla to have killed themselves.
Meanwhile, the state’s Badaun district – which was the site of a horrific double rape-and-hanging of two teenage Dalit cousins just a few weeks back – is back in the limelight of infamy after a mid-30s mother of two was allegedly gang-raped by three young men on Monday night.
Making matters worse is the fact that one of the young men accused is the son of a local police constable, who is employed in the western Uttar Pradesh district. According to The Hindustan Times, this young man, named Himanshu, orchestrated the entire scheme along with two of his friends.
Allegedly, Himanshu posed as someone who could rent a room in an under-construction building to the woman, saying that it would be a better value than her current residence. The woman brought herself and her children to this building, along with Himanshu, who then proceeded to lock her in one of the rooms.
He then returned to the room with two of his accomplices, at which point the woman was allegedly assaulted. The children were held captive at gun point. Shortly afterward, the woman and her children were able to get out, at which point she lodged an FIR with the local police.
Police are now in the midst of a full-scale investigation into the claims, which if true, could see the young men face severe jail sentences. Himanshu, in addition to a man named Khalifa and another man who has not been identified formally, have had cases filed against them and police are looking to arrest them.
These two new cases add to the growing stain on the reputation of UP, India’s most populous state. The state has had an unusually abysmal month with regards to sexual assault and rape crimes, as well as murders, leading many to lay the blame at the feet of the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party government for not doing enough to stem the growing tide.
While they have said that they will do whatever they can to put an end to this, history is not on their side. In addition to controversial statements made by Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, in which he said that boys should not be given the death penalty for rape crimes because it is just a one-time mistake, and that boys make mistakes, party honcho Naresh Aggarwal also made his own remark.
“You cannot even forcibly drag a calf…” said Aggarwal to a local wire service, implying that women should put up more of a fight if they’re being abducted. He later clarified that he simply meant it shouldn’t be so easy for a person to be kidnapped, but intentional or not, he and his party have added fuel to a growing fire that, unfortunately, shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.