[Reader-list] Dalit attempts suicide after rape accused let off by UP panchayat

[Asit Das]

Dalit attempts suicide after rape accused let off by UP panchayat
Wednesday, 25 December 2013 | PNS | Lucknow

 *Depressed over panchayat’s diktat awarding just five slaps to an accused
who tried to rape her, a 19-year-old Dalit  girl allegedly tried to commit
suicide in Pahasu area of Bulundshahr on Monday.*

According to reports, a powerful resident of Sohi hamlet of Pahasu in
Bulundshahr had called a village girl to work in his fields on Sunday. When
the victim reached for work, the accused called

her and tried to pull her in a secluded place to rape her. Luckily, the
victim somehow released her from clutches of the accused and rushed towards
her house and informed the incident to the family members.

Reports further said that the family took the matter to the village
panchayat on Monday but instead of taking serious cognisance, the
sarpanchs  tried to bail out the accused after they  awarded just five
slaps to the accused. Disturbed over the incident the girl tried to to
commit suicide by jumping into a canal here on Monday. However, she was
rescued by passersby. Local police claimed that they took cognisance of the
matter and were trying to arrest the accused.

Meanwhile in another incident reported from Gorakhpur, a woman was
allegedly attacked by a man for opposing  lewd comments. Reports said that
on Monday evening, the accused passed lewd comments on a woman when she was
going to a bank with her mother-in-law in Sumersagar area of Gorakhpur.
When she opposed, he pushed down the woman to ground and tore her clothes.
When the victim’s  mother-in-law raised an alarm, the accused left the
woman and absconded.

Following the incident, the victim’s brother-in-law reached the accused’s
house but he rang up the police and lodged a fake complaint against her
kin. When the victim came to know about her brother-in-law’s  arrest, she
reached the SP city’s office and narrated the entire episode only then his
brother-in-law was released. It may be mentioned that on Sunday also, in
another such incident in Gorakhpur a girl was beaten-up by miscreants in
Khorabar police station area for resisting their teasing bid.