While we’re still processing the recent horrendous rape of a teen in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Friday, whose body was found in the middle of a sugarcane field with her eyes gouged out and tongue slit, another incident of rape has cropped up in the state. A teenage girl was found singed with cigarette butts in UP’s Gorakhpur district, and her parents allege that she has been raped.
The survivor was found unconscious by her parents on Sunday and is presently undergoing treatment at a local hospital. According to the police, two people have been arrested in connection with the case. “Two people have been arrested and were charged with appropriate sections of the IPC which also include POCSO Act and rape charges. The two accused are Arjun who hails from a nearby village while the other accused is Chotu, both have been arrested and are sent to jail,” police official Vipul Srivastava said in a video statement on Twitter.
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According to the police report, the incident occurred when the teen left to fetch water on Friday night. The two accused abducted her and took her to a secluded spot near a pond and raped her. Her family only found her the next morning. “My daughter told me that the accused abducted her, raped her overnight and then burnt her body using cigarette butts. My daughter is in a bad shape, ” the survivor’s mother wrote in the police complaint.
Also Read: We Have Become A Culture That Normalises Rape
It numbs me to think about how heinous sexual crimes towards women are being normalised in our country. While it’s commendable that the police were able to trace and arrest the perpetrators so quickly, what are they doing to stop these cases from occurring in the first place? Unfortunately, rapes in India have become sheer statistics–a case that is featured on the news today will be forgotten about tomorrow. Two back-to-back incidents of horrific rapes with minors occurred in UP, so why is the media still obsessing over Rhea Chakraborty’s ‘black magic’ skills?
Twitter Is Enraged…But Is That Enough?
Here’s what the Twitterverse said about the incident.
The new ‘normal’
While CM Yogi is in denial
Where is the media uproar?
Religious fanaticism>women’s safety
The media silence says it all
We can’t normalise crime like this
Is this country ever going to be safe for women or is our fate sealed?
Also Read: “Rape-O-Meter”: 10 WTF Ways Our Leaders Told Us To Be “Safe”
Featured Image: BBC