In Patliakulmi village in Jhalawar, the district from Vasundhara Raje was elected, a 16-year-old girl from the Bhil community had celebrated when Raje became chief minister last December. Her sense of security ended on a summer afternoon when she was lured to the gram panchayat office and gang-raped by three youths, including a gram sevak.
One month later, the three accused still roam the village openly. The girl?s father, a daily wage earner and a small-time farmer, has written to the district collector and the SP seeking police protection after the youths and their relatives allegedly started threatening him.
?My daughter was out working in the fields when a woman from the village asked her to accompany her to the gram panchayat office for some paperwork on her ration card. When she went, she was locked up in the office with three boys, including gram sevak Rameshwar Sharma,? he told The Indian Express outside his field in Patliakulmi village. ?It has been over a month but there has been no action on our complaint. In the meantime, the youths have sent so many threats and also offered Rs 2 lakh to settle the matter.?
In nearby Richwa village, a 23-year-old MNREGA worker awaits justice after having been allegedly gang-raped by eight youths when she was returning home on the evening of May 12. She used to work on the Kalisindh Dam project but hasn?t had the courage to step out of home since that evening. Ostracised by neighbours, her family has shifted out of its rented house to the other end of the village.
The two recent rapes in Kholi village and Narayan Kheda, where one of the minor victims was murdered, received due attention after activists and the Congress raised a protest. The gang-rapes in Patliakulmi and Richwa are among several cases in Jhalawar district where the victims wait for justice. In Richwa, five of the eight accused remain at large and the charge-sheet hasn?t been filed yet. SP Rahul Barhat maintained investigations into both cases are under way.
According to the last compiled statistics of 2012 by Rajasthan police, the number of rapes across the state increased 13.5 per cent from 1,800 in 2011 to 2,049 in 2012. Jhalawar figures sixth highest in rapes (81 cases), third highest in child rapes (34) and highest in molestation cases (205).
Kavita Srivastava, general secretary, PUCL, said, ?Jhalawar has to have a special focus as it is an area where crime against women is rampant. There is no specific planning despite its being represented by the CM as MP five times and now as MLA three times. Region-specific planning needs to be done with a mechanism for prevention, elimination and redress of violence against women.?
Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot said, ?It is a matter of great shame that rapes are on the rise, that too when a woman CM is in power. What is worrying is such brutal instances of violence against women is being reported right under her nose. The CM also holds the home minister?s portfolio and should take responsibility for the instances. There is a sense of fear among the people. BJP workers are demanding the resignation of Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav for the Badaun rapes but the same yardstick is not being followed here.?