DNA Special: Hathras rape incident raises question on women safety yet again

The 19-year-old Dalit woman who was gang-raped by four men in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh four days passed away on Tuesday morning. She was struggling for her life under ventilator in an Aligarh hospital for three days, after which she was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital Delhi yesterday, but her conditions failed to improve in the slightest. Two days ago, Hathras Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir said that the four accused named in the rape case, which took place on September 14, have been arrested.

Giving details of the incident, the SP said that the woman had gone to the fields with her mother on that fateful day and had gone missing soon after.

She was later found brutally injured, with her tongue having a serious cut as she bit it while the accused attempted to strangulate her, he said.

The SP said initially they came to know that Sandip (20) had tried to kill her following which he was arrested the same day.

Later in her statement to the magistrate, the victim said that besides Sandip, Ramu, Lavkush and Ravi had raped her and when she resisted their attempts, they tried to strangulate her, leading to the cut in the tongue, the official said.

Later, Luvkush and Ramu were also arrested and the fourth accused was arrested on Saturday, the SP added.

The girl who was gang-raped on September 14 was brought to the Aligarh hospital the next day. She had injuries on the neck and was put on the ventilator, a JN Medical Hospital spokesman had said that day.

This is reminiscent of the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case which had caused a nationwide fury. Celebrities as well as common people had taken to the streets and the guilty were finally brought to books this year.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there were 68 incidents of rape per day in 2012. The number increased to 92 in 2013 and 100 rape cases were registered daily in 2014. In 2016, 106 rape cases were registered daily.

One of the arguments behind the increase in these figures is that a lot of cases of rape were not registered before the Nirbhaya case. Laws became and women became more aware and registered cases. But the truth remains that the barbaric act of rape continues to increase with each passing day and this statistic cannot be denied.

only two days ago, we all celebrated Daughter's Day with joy and pomp, but the truth is that our daughters are not safe. This incident of gang rape in Hathras is a blot on humanity. This calls for instant justice like in the case of the Hyderabad rape case when the rapists were killed in an encounter.

A democracy can only become stronger if women are respected there. But the task of strengthening a democracy also lies with the Opposition. If the situation of women in our country is weak, the opposition is looking astray. Therefore, we will now analyse the role of the opposition in democracy.

In the parliamentary tradition, it is important that the opposition criticises the functioning of the government, but also suggests for reforms. But in the name of opposition from the government, the opposition has been wandering for the past seven years.

After coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to double farmers ' income by 2022. The central government is of the view that if some of the old farming laws are changed, the income of the farmers can be doubled. But the opposition is seen to be lost in the laws relating to agriculture.

Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioned the opposition's thinking. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Sewage Treatment Plant in Uttarakhand from video conferencing. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister commented on the new law on farmers and said that the opposition people are neither with the farmers nor with the youth nor with the brave jawans of the country. Opposing every issue has become the only job of the Opposition.