On Feb 18, in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, three Dalit teenagers were found tied to a dupatta in a field. Two of the victims were pronounced dead, while the third is admitted to the Regency Hospital in Kanpur in critical condition. UP has become the epicenter of crime and rape against women. The girls were found on Wednesday, by the search party which was sent to look for them when they did not return after going to collect fodder for their cattle. Locals rushed them to a hospital nearby, where two of them were declared dead. They were suspected to have been poisoned. According to the Superintendent of Police, Anand Kulkarni the three girls were found unconscious in their field. In a statement, he reported the following:
“Three girls found lying in the unconscious in their field in Asoha police station limits. They were admitted to hospitals. Two have died while one is undergoing treatment at the district hospital. Prima facie, they went to fields to cut grass.”
The third girl, a 17-year-old who survived is in critical condition at Kanpur’s Regency Hospital. The victim was rushed to the hospital, where it is reported that she is suffering from brain damage. Her injuries are life-threatening and require better medical attention. The family is in need of financial aid and a decent amount was raised for the victim through donations. Activists demand that the girl should be airlifted to Delhi’s hospital AIIMS for treatment, as local hospitals are incompetent. They argue that it is crucial for the victim to receive adequate treatment as she is also an eyewitness to the crime.
Heavy police force was deployed in the area when Samajwadi Party supporters, along with villagers held demonstrations and sat on a dharna. The President of the party denounced the government’s lack of action in a statement: “It seems that the chief minister did not care about law and order in the state. The state has become insecure for women due to the BJP.”
Police have put up barriers and denied entry to anyone in the village. Moreover, there are strict restrictions on the victim’s family and the village, where most people are being intimidated into silence. Alongside verbal intimidation, the police have also blocked all routes into the village and the locals are not allowed to communicate with the press. Due to this, the press is facing difficulties in reporting as they are not allowed to go into the village. This has caused outrage among the citizens, as the criminals are roaming free while the family of the victims is under house arrest.
Against the family’s wishes, the police performed the last rites of the two Dalit girls on Friday morning. The bodies were brought back to the village after their postmortem, in which the cause of death was not ascertained, the report also mentioned that there were no signs of violence or struggle at the spot
. “The post-mortem of the two girls was done by a panel of doctors and no injury before death or external injuries were found on their bodies.” – DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi.
They were buried in the family’s agriculture fields while the cremation took place in the presence of police and senior officials.
People on social media sites like Twitter are campaigning to save the third girl, who is battling for life in the hospital. Hashtags like #Save_Unnao_ki_beti and #TreatmentForUnnaoVictim have been trending. The case has also received prominent attention among the opposition and activists. The hashtag was also used by Rahul Gandhi, who lambasted the government in his tweet: “Not only the Dalit society, the UP government is also crushing women honor and human rights.”
While this was happening, there was not much from the government’s side, which failed to acknowledge the urgency of the case. Although the opposition did raise questions, however pointing fingers is not enough. Everyday, women in Dalit communities are subjected to heinous crimes like the hathras horror, the 2017 Unnao rape case, and countless other cases that never get media attention. Therefore, this is a chance to bring them to justice.
