How dare PDP-BJP shame a schoolgirl to save Indian Army face
Kashmir is on the boil, yet again.
This time, four people have died in north Kashmir's Handwara town since April 12, when protests erupted against the alleged molestation of a schoolgirl by an Indian Army soldier in the frontier district.
The government, however, refutes the molestation charges, as if ithat would justify the bloodbath.
To plead its point, the authorities released a video wherein the hijab-clad girl exonerates the soldier of molestation charges. In fact, the girl, while talking to someone she addresses as "sir", accused some locals of having raised a hue and cry. A top government functionary authenticated the video, while talking to NDTV.
But the protesters say the little girl spoke under pressure from the authorities, and her disclosures are debatable, much like the unsolved mystery of the double-rape and murder of Shopian. In 2009, two girls, Neelofer and Asiya, were found raped and murdered on the banks of a stream in south Kashmir's Shopian town.
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| Though protests are bound to subside, the girl whose video has gone viral will have to face the fallouts. |
This time the question is: why did the authorities release a video, which brazenly violates the law of the land? After all, ignorance of law is no excuse to rule.
The Indian law does not just prohibit the disclosure of the names of rape victims but also the potential information leading to the identification of victims of sexual abuse. The law of the land clearly states that the victim's identity cannot be disclosed and those guilty of doing so must face punishment under Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code.
Though protests are bound to subside, the girl whose video has gone viral will have to face the fallouts, more so because she belongs to a conservative Muslim society. The video may haunt her for entire life.
Apart from the state's first woman chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, this case is a litmus test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well. PM Modi, who campaigns for "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao", must realise that the life of one of India's schoolgoing "beti" is at stake here.
Political ideologies apart, the girl's integrity needs to be the collective concern in any civilised society, irrespective of whether it's actually Indian or even seeking Azaadi from the Indian Union!