Several senior activists under the banner of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) in an open letter to Trivendra Rawat, chief minister, Uttarakhand, and Vijay Bardhwal, president, State Women's Commission, have regretted that incidents of rape of Dalits girls is constantly on the rise in the state.
Referring to the May 30 incident, in which 24-year-old Vipin Panwar raped a mine-year-old minor Dalit girl his village in Nainbagh Tehsil, Jaunpur, Tehri Garhwal, the letter said, efforts by the family to get justice failed, but things came to light only after the girl's mother reached Dehradun with her unconscious daughter for treatment.
Pointing out that the accused is absconding, NAPM said, four years ago, a young woman of the Dalit family was gangraped by young men of the village. She was later murdered. The matter was suppressed under the pretext that it would bring bad name to the village.
NAPM said, the incident took place in the village where a Dalit, Jitendra Das, was murdered because he dared sit on chair to take his meal. While the incident took place last month, so far no steps have been taken against the culprits.
Pointing out that these incidents suggest police inaction, NAPM has demanded formation of a special task force on Dalit atrocities in the region, arrest of the accused and registration of case under the anti-atrocities and sexual harassment laws, time-bound legal proceedings, and adequate compensation to the victims.
Those who have signed the letter include Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Dr Binayak Sen, Prafulla Samantara, Lingraj Azad, and others.
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