Indian Overseas Congress, USA joins millions of non-resident Indians across the globe in condemning the horrific rape and murder of Manisha Valmiki of Hathras, U.P. The barbarity and the bestiality involved in the killing show the depraved and criminal mindsets of those who perpetrated such heinous acts against a Dalit woman who is from the lowest rung of India’s caste system. The ghastly way this woman was raped and murdered has indeed shaken the nation to its core and terrorized the people of conscience across the world.
The victim, who belonged to the Dalit community, was raped by four men on September 14 in the heartland state of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district. The woman’s family told local media that they found her naked, bleeding, and paralyzed with a split tongue and broken spine in a field outside her home. On Tuesday, she died two weeks later after battling severe injuries in a hospital in New Delhi.
To add insult to injury, the police barricaded her family members & locals inside the house and forcibly burned the body. The family was not allowed to see their daughter for one last time and say good-bye. As it has been said by Yogendra Yadav, “even criminals are allowed dignified cremation. Here is a rape victim being cremated by police at 2.30 AM without family members”.
“Mr. Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, it is your party which is in power. Given your supremacy within the party in U.P. and the centralized control you exercise, you more than anyone else have to be held responsible for this terrifying state of affairs,” said George Abraham, Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA. Your past statement, such as ‘women not capable of being left alone and their energy should be regulated, lest it becomes worthless and destructive,” is not only despicable but misogynistic and chauvinistic.
“while you have ordered an inquiry, Mr. Chief Minister, you haven’t taken any steps to cure this rape culture in your state or shown any resolve to change the social, political, and administrative conditions under which such anti-Dalit hatred is bred,” said Mohinder Singh Gilzian, President of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA. Your continuing inaction in this regard will gain you the title as the Chief administrator of the notorious Rape State in India,” Mr. Gilzian added.
“It is indeed the growing culture of violence emanating out of the wrong-headed sense of ultra-nationalism and majoritarian arrogance that is polarizing the communities and dividing the nation. We call upon the Modi Government to stop paying lip service with slogans like “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” and provide true leadership in bringing perpetrators of this pervasive rape and abuse of women culture across the country to justice regardless of their party affiliations and oust any government officials who remains stumbling blocks to that effort” the statement added.