Rapes: Centre pulls up UP government

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday pulled up Akhilesh Yadav government for not slapping the SC/ST Act against culprits in Badaun gang-rape and murder case, since the victims were Dalits. Two teenage Dalit girls, who were cousins aged 14 and 15 years, were allegedly gang-raped and murdered with their bodies found hanging from a mango tree in a village in Ushait area in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. The issue seemed to snowball, as the United Nations, too, slammed the UP Government for the rape incidents and growing violence against women.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, “If there is a crime against a person belonging to SC/ST, there are special provisions for it. These should be invoked. The Home Ministry has written a letter asking for the same to be applied and it should be applied.”

Rape Crisis Centres by end of the year

Women & Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has said that Rape Crisis Centres would be activated in all the districts by the end of the year. These Centres would deal holistically with all aspects relating to a rape incident, like medical treatment, police attention and legal assistance. These special centres would deal with sensitivity all such cases, which were not shown most often by other government agencies like the police.

Victim’s father threatened

Meanwhile, reports of the dominant upper caste family members of the accused arrested in the gang-rape and murder case threatening the victims’ families are emerging. Even before the nationwide outrage could die down, a father of one of the victims on Monday alleged that close associates of the accused, all belonging to the dominant caste of their village, had threatened to unleash another wave of terror once media attention on the case subsided. "They say, once media leaves, Mahabharat bana denge," he said.