Badaun rape: It's always the woman's fault

I am infuriated by the way the Central Bureau of Investigation has investigated the Badaun rape case. They probed the case for five months only to twist the facts and recommend acquittal of the main accused in the crime. In what was a direct case of rape and murder of two young girls in a small village of the Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh, CBI claims to have collected some 40 pieces of medical evidence, all laying the entire blame on the victims of the incident: teenage daughters of the poor villager.

The incident has once again brought to the fore the patriarchal mindset of our society. Whether it is a crime as heinous as rape or a relationship with a boy of another caste, it is invariably the women who are punished for both forced and consensual sex. Justice evades women in the country, and the poor for sure. I suspect foul play - the actual accused in the crime cannot get off scot-free without the support of political power and large sums of money. Despite glaring evidence pointing at rape followed by murder, the CBI report has conveniently called it a "suicide case" ruling out even the possibility of "honour killing" in the incident.

I have visited the site myself. So I know the aspects of the crime scene that have been left unquestioned. For instance, how did the girls manage to climb a tree that high? I have lived in the village myself and I understand how skills such as swimming and tree climbing come naturally to us, but in this case they clearly did not climb themselves. Moreover, the CBI came to collect the evidence from the crime scene after the cremation when even the ashes had been dispersed and swept away. And even if it was a suicide, there are a string of questions that remain unanswered -- what drove them to take their lives? Was it the fear of being killed by their own family or by the boy or they just did not have even enough faith in the legal system to protect their basic human right to lead a dignified life?

I must also point out how rapes and killings have become a cultural norm. Politicians try to trivialise violence against women which has made the "boys" believe that they can easily get away with a crime even as grave as rape. Apart from Mayawati, not a single politician who visited the site spoke against the report released by CBI. People are hurling abuse at me because I have taken up the case to stand up for the cause of the victim. Is it not the responsibility of the politicians to build awareness on such issues when they go out campaigning for elections? Institutional reforms are the need of the hour. In addition to this, we need better policing so that  crimes against women are reported and not discovered by chance. The Constitution guarantees equal rights of safety, security and justice to women and it is time the politicians of our country led by example.

(As told to Prerna Singh)