A Rape, Many Bodybags: Unnao Case Underscores Clout Powerful People Wield, And Damage They Can Do

A girl from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh바카라�in her teens, raped, and her family and well-wishers killed one by one like in a B-grade potboiler바카라�beseeched everybody she could for justice. But there바카라�s not a pittance of justice to be had, leaving a trail of questions instead. What must a human, living under the rule of law, do if they바카라�re wronged? Approach police? Move court? Attempt self-immolation? Lament before the press? Write to the state바카라�s top authority? Seek justice from the country바카라�s top court? And what do the victim do if she draws a bad cheque from every door she knocked on? Perhaps, just send a curse from the pits of your being, hoping against hope that it will harm the perpetrator.

She was 17 two years ago and had gone to BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar바카라�s home in the district seeking a job. The MLA allegedly raped her and she complained, sought justice. And then the domino effect, so typical to the badlands of UP, unfolded. Her father died in police custody바카라�first assaulted by the MLA바카라�s brother Atul Singh and his henchmen, and then allegedly tortured by police. Her uncle was jailed in a 19-year old arms case. Her two aunts died in a road accident, which also left her in a critical condition. She has wounds in the lungs, a blood clot in the head, and a fractured leg, says a kin. He alleges that the accident, and the preceding events, is part of a conspiracy by the MLA, who is now in jail, to silence the girl and her family.

바카라�They are powerful people. Even after the accident, nobody from the village came to see the girl,바카라� he says. 바카라�They (the MLA바카라�s men) got a warrant issued against the girl바카라�s father in an old case, forced him to come here, and got him killed.바카라�

After the girl alleged rape, her family moved to Delhi fearing attack from his men. The father was summoned to Unnao in an old case and was attacked the day he landed. Police arrested the girl바카라�s injured father바카라�based on a complaint from the MLA바카라�s men바카라�and allegedly tortured him in custody. He died.

The girl바카라�s uncle wasn바카라�t spared either. The MLA used his clout to get him convicted in an old arms case, alleges the kin. 바카라�Thankfully, he was shifted to Rae Bareli jail. He would have been killed in Unnao jail,바카라� he adds.

The girl, her lawyer, the jailed uncle바카라�s wife, and the wife바카라�s sister were on the way to meet the prisoner in Rae Bareli when a truck바카라�driven on the wrong side and with its licence plate blackened바카라�collided with their car. The two aunts died. The duo was running the jailed uncle바카라�s business in his absence and ensuring two square meals for the family. 바카라�There is no source of income for the family now,바카라� says the kin.

The recent events have pricked the nation바카라�s conscience. Protests are being held, but not to the scale that engulfed the December 2012 gang-rape and murder in Delhi. That case forced lawmakers to come up with a stringent law against rape, the purpose of it mainly as a det­errent. But there are people who bel­ieve they are above the law, and for them such deterrence hardly matters. In fact, there have been instances of people trying to protect suspects. The Kathua rape and murder of a girl from a nomadic tribe in 2018 is an example. 바카라�It바카라�s a typical case of collusion between criminal politicians and state machinery. The fact that all this happened despite the case being under media scanner shows the impunity, the brute power, and the control over the system these people enjoy,바카라� says Kavita Srivastava, national secretary of the People바카라�s Union for Civil Liberties. 바카라�You look at the sequence and you바카라�ll know of the struggle the little girl endured.바카라�

The accident bears oddities to perplex even the non-suspecting ones. Why was the truck바카라�s number plate smudged with grease? Why was it being driven on the worng side of the road? Isn바카라�t the truck owner from the MLA바카라�s village? Why was the guard assigned to the girl not in the car? The police assert that the accident was not a planned act, a conspiracy.

With public outrage growing, the BJP has distanced itself from Sengar. The party said they suspended the MLA last year, but has not produced any proof of disciplinary action. It바카라�s another matter that Sakshi Maharaj, the BJP MP for Unnao, visited the rape-accused MLA in jail after his victory in this year바카라�s parliamentary elections, and thanked him for his support.