The daughter of a Hindu Dalit farmer from Sarkhara Khas village, Moradabad district, Western UP, tried to commit suicide by drinking pesticide after a sexual assault by the relatives of a local SP leader – Aasgar, Nazim and one other.

The incident occurred on 1 July when the girl’s family had gone to work in the fields and she was alone at home. It was then that local residents of the village who are related to a Muslim SP leader – Aasgar, Nazim and one other youth barged into her home and tried to sexually assault her. When the girl protested, they thrashed her and threatened to throw acid on her face. After they left, the harassed girl tried to commit suicide by drinking pesticide. She was rushed to hospital for treatment. Police have arrested Aasgar and Nazim, while the third person is absconding.

The Rape Epidemic in UP

This incident shows yet again that violence & sexual crimes against women is the number # 1 law & order issue facing UP right now, with communal rioting coming a close second. Hardly a day goes by when regional papers do not report some incident of a Hindu girl being raped, molested or harassed. HinduPost had carried a report in February this year on how 7 gang rapes took place in a period of just 2 weeks in and around Muzaffarnagar district, almost all perpetrated by Muslims.

Such crimes have become so common place that they are relegated to inside pages of even the regional Hindi media, while national media (both English and Hindi) is not bothered to report such incidents and would rather focus on alleged barbarity committed against a horse. Of course, the fact that the perpetrators in this case are Muslim makes this incident completely taboo for our English language media and their psuedo-secular editors.

Such incidents become news-worthy for our media and left-liberal intellectuals only when there is some ‘angle’ to blame the girl or project the accused Muslims as victims of a Hindutva conspiracy. For eg., in the case of the ASHA worker Somvati’s gang-rape and death in Muzaffarnagar, media reports carried the innuendo that the 40 year old mother of 3 actually had a consensual relation with the 20 year old prime accused Shahid, disregarding the gang rape video which showed Somvati being pinned down by other men while Shahid raped her.

Rape/Molestation Videos as Instrument of Blackmail

One of the most common modus operandi being used these days by rapists in UP and elsewhere is to make a video during the initial molestation/rape attempt. Later, the rapists use the video to blackmail the girl for further sexual exploitation. And in a grotesque murder of justice, even if the girl manages to muster courage and approach the police, the very fact that mobile call records show that she received (blackmail) calls from the accused is used to suggest that the girl was involved in a ‘willing relationship’.

The plight of poor girls in UP, Bihar, West Bengal and elsewhere who are falling victim to sexual predators emboldened by political protection received due to votebank politics, should be treated as a national crisis. This is what should agitate and occupy the Honorable Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, rather than the online troll attacks faced by women.

Hindu girls and women living in the villages and towns of UP are not safe as they go to school, for tuition, to shops, while defecating in fields, and even in the safety of their homes. When the Samajwadi supremo Mulayam makes stunning remarks like “Boys will be boys” or questions the very feasibility of gang-rape, and escapes any media condemnation for the utter break-down of law & order in UP, it shows how deep the virus of secularism has corroded the State of Bharat.