News Analysis India

Tag: Dalit girl rape

  • 16-year-old Dalit girl who was gang-raped, set ablaze in UP’s Pilibhit dies 12 days later

    By Online Desk

    A minor Dalit girl who was allegedly gang-raped and set ablaze by two men in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district on September 7 succumbed to her injuries today, according to media reports.

    Earlier this month, two men gang-raped the sixteen-year-old in Kunwarpur village of the district. The accused then reportedly poured diesel on her and set her on fire.

    The victim had been battling for her life at a hospital in Lucknow for the past 12 days, as per media reports.

    The two accused, Rajveer (19) and Tarachand alias Tarun Kumar (25), were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes Act, and sent to jail, as reported by The Quint.

    The deceased girl’s body will be handed over to her family following post-mortem formalities.

    On Saturday, the body of a 15-year-old Dalit girl was recovered near a railway line in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun. A case of murder and rape along with sections of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) was lodged against the accused who was arrested a day later.

    Last week, two Dalit sisters were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located about a kilometre away from their house in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. The post-mortem reports confirmed that they were raped and strangulated.

    A minor Dalit girl who was allegedly gang-raped and set ablaze by two men in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district on September 7 succumbed to her injuries today, according to media reports.

    Earlier this month, two men gang-raped the sixteen-year-old in Kunwarpur village of the district. The accused then reportedly poured diesel on her and set her on fire.

    The victim had been battling for her life at a hospital in Lucknow for the past 12 days, as per media reports.

    The two accused, Rajveer (19) and Tarachand alias Tarun Kumar (25), were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes Act, and sent to jail, as reported by The Quint.

    The deceased girl’s body will be handed over to her family following post-mortem formalities.

    On Saturday, the body of a 15-year-old Dalit girl was recovered near a railway line in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun. A case of murder and rape along with sections of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) was lodged against the accused who was arrested a day later.

    Last week, two Dalit sisters were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located about a kilometre away from their house in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. The post-mortem reports confirmed that they were raped and strangulated.

  • Day after girl raped, killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun, police arrest accused

    By PTI

    BUDAUN: A day after a Dalit girl was raped and killed in a village here, police on Sunday said they have arrested the accused.

    He has been identified as Jitendra Yadav, employed with the electricity department on a contractual basis.

    According to the police, the body of the 15-year-old girl was recovered near a railway line in Faizganj Behata police station area on Saturday morning.

    Hours later, her family members had alleged that the police picked up her body and sent it for post-mortem without informing them though their house is just one-and-a-half kilometres away from the spot.

    They claimed that the police had only told them over the phone that their daughter had died in an accident and summoned them to identify the body.

    Following this, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) OP Singh reached the spot and directed the officials to file a case.

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur Kheri sisters’ deaths: Post-mortem report confirms rape, strangulation

    On Sunday, Singh said, “A case of murder and rape along with sections of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) has been lodged. The accused has confessed to the crime.”

    According to Singh, Yadav told the police during interrogation that he abducted the girl while returning home on Friday night.

    He then took her to a secluded place behind the nearby railway station and raped her.

    “He strangulated the girl in order to protect his identity,” the SP said.

    Police said they used witnesses’ statements and mobile surveillance data to zero down on the accused.

    BUDAUN: A day after a Dalit girl was raped and killed in a village here, police on Sunday said they have arrested the accused.

    He has been identified as Jitendra Yadav, employed with the electricity department on a contractual basis.

    According to the police, the body of the 15-year-old girl was recovered near a railway line in Faizganj Behata police station area on Saturday morning.

    Hours later, her family members had alleged that the police picked up her body and sent it for post-mortem without informing them though their house is just one-and-a-half kilometres away from the spot.

    They claimed that the police had only told them over the phone that their daughter had died in an accident and summoned them to identify the body.

    Following this, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) OP Singh reached the spot and directed the officials to file a case.

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur Kheri sisters’ deaths: Post-mortem report confirms rape, strangulation

    On Sunday, Singh said, “A case of murder and rape along with sections of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) has been lodged. The accused has confessed to the crime.”

    According to Singh, Yadav told the police during interrogation that he abducted the girl while returning home on Friday night.

    He then took her to a secluded place behind the nearby railway station and raped her.

    “He strangulated the girl in order to protect his identity,” the SP said.

    Police said they used witnesses’ statements and mobile surveillance data to zero down on the accused.

  • Dalit girl rape: HC to hear on September 27 PIL for FIR against Rahul Gandhi for disclosing identity of minor

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Wednesday said it will hear on September 27 the plea seeking registration of FIR against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly revealing the identity of a 9-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in southwest Delhi, by publishing a photograph with her parents on Twitter.

    A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh refused to issue notice on the public interest litigation (PIL) by Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar at this stage and asked the parties to “keep 1-2 pages of submissions ready on next date”.

    Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter, told the court that the tweet in question has been removed as it was found to be in violation of the platform’s own policy.

    “The account has been locked and the tweet is not available,” Poovayya said.

    Counsel for Mhadlekar, advocate Gautam Jha, however, responded that he disputed Twitter’s stand and urged the court to call for an affidavit.

    “If this is the attitude, we are not issuing notice,” the court remarked as it proceeded to adjourn hearing.

    Senior advocate R S Cheema appeared for Rahul Gandhi.

    In his petition, Mhadlekar, a social activist, said that by posting the photograph with the parents of the child victim, Gandhi violated the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, which prohibit the disclosure of identity of minor victims of sexual offences.

    It is alleged that Gandhi was “attempting to take political mileage out of the unfortunate incident”.

    The plea also seeks initiation of appropriate legal action against Gandhi by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

    The minor Dalit girl died under suspicious circumstances on August 1 even as her parents alleged that she was raped, murdered and cremated by a crematorium’s priest in southwest Delhi’s Old Nangal village.

  • Ramdas Athawale demands capital punishment for those behind 9-year-old Dalit girl’s rape and murder

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Thursday demanded capital punishment for those behind the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old Dalit girl in Delhi and said he will take up the matter with Home Minister Amit Shah.

    Athawale also met the family of the girl and assured them of all possible assistance.

    “Met the family of the girl and assured them of all possible help. I will also meet Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the matter and ensure justice for her. Those behind the heinous crime must be hanged, this is the demand of the RPI (Republican Party of India),” Athawale tweeted in Hindi.

    In a statement, Athawale, who is also the president of the RPI, demanded strict action against police if some negligence is found on their part.

    ALSO READ | Minor girl rape: Police clear one carriageway of road near Delhi Cantt amid protests

    The girl, according to police, died under mysterious circumstances when she went to get water from a cooler at a crematorium in the Old Nangal area in southwest Delhi.

    Her parents have alleged that she was raped and her body was forcibly cremated by a crematorium priest who had falsely claimed that she was electrocuted.

    Hundreds of locals, including the victim’s parents, have been staging a protest near the site of the incident, demanding capital punishment for the convicts.

    Police had on Monday said that based on the statement of the victim’s mother, rape charges have been added in the FIR.

    Four people, including the priest, have been arrested.

    The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has also launched an inquiry into the incident.

  • BJP attacks Rahul Gandhi for not speaking on rape cases in Congress-ruled states

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday accused Rahul Gandhi of using the case of alleged rape and murder of a Dalit girl in southwest Delhi for “furthering” his political agenda, and asserted that the law and order machinery has moved swiftly to deliver justice to the victim’s family.

    BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told a press conference that his party had no issue with Gandhi, who visited the girl’s family earlier, calling for justice but what was condemnable was the Gandhi family’s “selectivism” as they never tweeted or spoke a word in the cases of atrocities against Dalit girls in the Congress-ruled states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh.

    ALSO READ| Delhi minor rape & murder: Kejriwal announces magisterial probe, Rs 10 lakh compensation

    He also accused Gandhi of violating the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and another law dealing with juveniles by tweeting a picture of the girl’s parents as disclosing any aspect of a rape victim’s identity is an offence.

    Patra urged the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to take cognisance of the matter and issue notice to the Congress leader. “This is using Dalits and the poor for furthering your own political agenda,” he said, attacking him.

    Gandhi had earlier met the family of the nine-year-old Dalit girl who died here following an alleged sexual assault and asserted that he is with them on the path to justice and “will not back down even an inch”. After meeting the victim’s family, the former Congress chief said the family is demanding nothing but justice and is saying that they are not getting it and need all the assistance in this.

    Patra cited a number of heinous cases of rapes and other atrocities on Dalit girls and women in Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh to hit out at the Congress leader over his “silence”. “You close your eyes and open only when you think you will have some political benefit out of it. This is appalling,” he said, adding that the Delhi Police has arrested four accused in the case.

    A Dalit’s daughter is certainly India’s daughter, the BJP spokesperson said quoting a tweet of Gandhi and shot back to ask if Dalit daughters in these Congress-ruled states are not India’s daughters. Rajasthan has topped the country in the cases of rapes, Patra said, citing official figures.

    The Rajasthan government had blamed registration of false FIRs allegedly by Dalits for the high numbers, he claimed.