The horrific details of the violent Jat agitation for reservation in government jobs are slowly coming out in the public. In the name of agitation for the quota, goons and all kinds of other anti-social elements were busy looting, killing and even allegedly raping women with impunity for three days.
According to media reports and local eye witness accounts, dozens of hapless women passengers were dragged out of their vehicles and raped by rampaging goons at Murtal on Delhi–Haryana border. The mob allegedly stopped the vehicles, attacked male passengers, burnt the vehicles and raped the women in nearby fields. The women were later rescued by the local villagers and sent back home. What is more shocking is allegations of police hushing up the gory incident by advising the victims not to file cases to protect the “honour” of the victims.
After some local newspapers including "The Tribune" reported the incident quoting eye witness accounts, a furious Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motto action by ordering an immediate probe. However, the Haryana government is still denying the reports of rapes saying that nobody has so far come forward to lodge a complaint. The High Court has now ordered that the victims can now lodge the complaints directly with the judges.
On Friday, “The Times of India” carried a detailed ground report on the incident of alleged gang rapes. Its reporter claims that he has found under garments and other clothes of women in the nearby fields and sent them for forensic report. He also says that a local dhaba (eatery) owner and some women in the nearby villages have confirmed alleged incidents of rapes.
The newspaper also quotes a CRPF personnel who was deployed there to maintain law and order. He claims that the incidents of rapes indeed took place and they could not do anything to prevent them as there were no orders to open the fire to disperse the mob. There are even reports of hundreds of suspected youth fleeing the villages fearing that the police might catch them for the gang rapes.
What is more shocking is the silence of the main opposition Congress party. It does not seem to be worried about the political fallout of this horrific act. The party leaders have not so far raised the issue in Parliament demanding action. Obviously the BJP which is ruling Haryana will not make it a big issue.
Its chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has botched up the handling of agitation and he deserves to be dismissed for inaction. But, the BJP is dragging its feet and not in a mood to sack him because of his close RSS connections.
According to locals the Congress is keeping quiet because its former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda himself is accused of instigating the mob to go on a rampage across the state. One of his advisors has already been arrested under sedition charges for inciting the mob. Investigative journalist Shalini Singh has exposed the role of Hooda in her scathing pieces for Firstpost. Surprisingly, Hooda has not reacted to her articles till today.
The Congress leaders in New Delhi are trying to downplay the Haryana incidents fearing that it can expose the complicity of some of their own leaders including Hooda. Hooda is also close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son-in-law Robert Vadra.
The alleged incidents of horrific rapes should be thoroughly investigated by independent agencies under the direct supervision of the High Court or the Supreme Court. If it is true, then all culprits who are directly and indirectly responsible for the incident deserve nothing short of a death sentence.
Since Haryana government is trying to hush-up the incident, the-BJP led NDA at the Centre is unwilling to act and the main opposition Congress is keeping quiet, the only ray of hope is judicial intervention.
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