Two most shocking incidents were r34eported from Fathepur district where one dalit girl Sarika was brutally assaulted with butcher’s knife by three goons when she tried to resist rape attempt by three goons on February 5.She had deep cuts on her face and skull mutilated. The girl was attacked by three local youths and their intention was to rape her. She fiercely resisted and got severe injuries. Sarika is undergoing treatment in Kanpur and the doctors are not sure about restoration of her normal physique.

Again on February 7, a 17 year old girl was set ablaze in her house in village Taktauli in Jhansi district, a few hours after she was raped at a gun point by local goons. In yet another incident, a 15 year old girl was raped in her village when she was returning home in the evening. Two persons have been arrested in this connection. Similar incident of rape took place in Moradabad also.

In Ghaziabad also, a group of boys caught hold of a girl and gangraped her before escaping with her valuables. The families of all the victims are very critical of the police administration and they have charged there is no safety for the young girls in Uttar Pradesh. The Mayawati Government is not at all sensitive to the plight of the women victims and there is very little follow-up actions.

Even then, few women showed exemplary courage in Aligarh when they tried to stop the convoy of the chief minister Mayawati. Case has been registered against three women. Sunita, is one of the three women in Aligarh who tried to stop the motorcade to meet the chief minister Mayawati to seek arrest of local BSP leader and Minister Thakur Jaiveer Singh for his role in alleged murder of her father who was junior engineer in rural engineering department.

Now Sunita has alleged that she would commit suicide if no action was taken against those involved in murder of her father. She alleged that her father Rajendra Kumar was junior engineer in rural engineering department and he was under pressure from the minister to do illegal work which he denied. The other two women also facing FIR for obstructing the motorcade of the chief minister had also complaints regarding local administration for inaction into their grievances.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi rushed to UP to meet victims of rape and atrocities in various districts. Rahul Gandhi visited Banda to meet backward girl Sheelu who had been raped by BSP MLA Purushottam Dwivedi. The he visited Kanpur to meet Sarika fighting for her life after being criminally assaulted by the goons. Rahul Gandhi also went to Sultanpur to meet a muslim girl in Lamuha village who was assaulted on February 1.

Commenting on the situation in UP the chairman of National Commission on Women Girija Vyas said women were not safe in UP. She also announced that she would visit Kanpur, Sultanpur and other places to meet victims and their families for an on-the-spot study. NCW chairman said UP was ahead of all states in the number of cases of rape and atrocities on women and she wanted to know from the chief minister that why no case had been handed to fast track court for speedy trial.

The issue of rape and increases in violence against women also rocked UP Legislature during current session. The entire opposition was united making serious allegations against Mayawati government for being insensitive towards crime against women.

Rahul Gandhi has set the agenda by taking the initiative of visiting victims families. Now Samajwadi Party, BJP and RLD leaders are also following him.
(IPA Service)