Rohtak rape is a double slap on the face of 21st century India
The second-time rape of a 21-year-old dalit student in Haryana's Rohtak has left the country in a state of shock, with the news of the five repeat offenders inflicting this horrible violence on the woman scarring once again an already much-tainted national discourse.
The victim, who's a postgraduate student at Rohtak's MD University, was first violated in 2013 in Bhiwani by the same five men, all in their late twenties, and had filed a complaint all of them.
Two were arrested but were soon out on bail, while three others have been roaming free, threatening the victim's family to withdraw the case.
On July 13, the five once again abducted the girl and gang-raped her a second time, clearly as an act of revenge against her and her family's firm resolve to seek justice for the earlier crime.
Rohtak (Haryana) (17.7.16): Gang rape victim allegedly raped again by the “same 5 accused” three years later pic.twitter.com/WOaRXN81EI
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 18, 2016
Rohtak Rape case: Cops yet to make any arrests yet #ITVideohttps://t.co/TlxAyqzLeP
— India Today (@IndiaToday) July 19, 2016
3 people have been arrested so far, 2 more will be arrested soon: KP Singh, Haryana DGP on Rohtak gangrape case pic.twitter.com/Lqc4yplMao
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 19, 2016
We assure that strict action will be taken against the accused: KP Singh, Haryana DGP on Rohtak gangrape case pic.twitter.com/ZdN7wkavUN
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 19, 2016
The shards of our broken legal and policing system only end up hurting us - the civilians - more, while watching callously as crimes are perpetrated with greater impunity than ever before.
Though three of the five accused have been arrested so far, the assurances of the police officials ring hollow.
But for the media attention that this repeat crime has garnered, it is hard to say if strict action would have been taken.
Not only is this a stupendous evidence of the rising crime graph against women, it is equally an indicator of the daily insults and violence that the Dalits are subjected to. Though case has been filed under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the lynchings and the rapes are not likely to come to a swift end.
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It is a crying shame that three and half years since Nirbhaya gang rape and an emboldened anti-rape law, the horrific crime shows no indications of coming down.
Add to the boiling cocktail of deep-seated misogyny and the general climate of violence against women, the hostile and extremely feudal social milieu of Haryana and we get a petridish of systemic brutality against lower castes, women and sexual minorities.
It is appalling that the ML Khattar government is becoming a mute spectator of the hotbed of sexual violence that's Haryana has turned into. Unless a modicum of law and order is restored, Haryana will soon snatch away the crown of Jungle Raj from Bihar.
Twitter has been vociferous in condemning the Rohtak gang-rape, but is outraging enough?
We think not.
Both the victim & the accused have their versions, we are probing every angle: Jawahar Yadav, BJP Haryana #NewsToday https://t.co/pUJGylXLyu
— India Today (@IndiaToday) July 19, 2016
The girl was raped in 2013 & law says finish the case within 2 months of the chargesheet: @vrindagrover #NewsToday https://t.co/IE9JYlHrlq
— India Today (@IndiaToday) July 19, 2016
We don't think police would be able to get us justice.We want a fair probe by SIT/CBI- #Rohtak rape victim's brother pic.twitter.com/7EKrhKR3sG
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 19, 2016
Dalit gang rape survivor allegedly raped again by the accused- in "Bahut Hua Nari par waar' Jumla fame BJP ruled Haryana's #Rohtak!
— Samar (@Samar_Anarya) July 18, 2016
Kopardi/Rohtak makes us hang our heads in shame. Would we be on streets if it happened in Delhi/Mumbai?
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) July 19, 2016
This is utterly disgusting n shameful. Someone must be held responsible n severely punished https://t.co/Wmbx81KZUB
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 19, 2016
जाग जाती @mlkhattar सरकार, फिर से न होता बलात्कार #रोहतक_की_निर्भया pic.twitter.com/v5nkeNiV1P
— Montu Garg (@montugarg1) July 19, 2016