August 2019

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
The stand taken by the Supreme
Court of India on the Unnao case is a
slap on the face of the tall claims of
law and order in Uttar Pradesh. That
all the four cases related to it are now
transferred to Delhi and will face trial
with in 45 days from yesterday reflect
how deliberate were Uttar Pradesh
government’s effort to deny her justice.
Can you imagine the horror and
terror that this brave girl faced
through the henchmen of the MLA
Kuldeep Sengar who enjoyed patronage
of all the political parties.
The issue of women’s safety is of
great concern but look at the people.
The bloody village is sleeping as if
nothing happened. Where are the
political parties in Uttar Pradesh.
Why the issue not raised by them
powerfully as happened during
Nirbhaya. Can you imagine, this case
has brought so much misery for the
girls family. Her father was arrested,
tortured and ultimately died in the
custody and the girl was blaming to
herself for his death. Her mother
faced trauma. The girl and her mother
were gang raped by the goons of
Sanger. Her Uncle too was put under
false charges. And finally, when she
did not leave her struggle and fight
for justice, the powerful MLA and
henchmen planned a murder of the
entire family so that the cases are
closed.
How poorly it reflect in our system
that a victim dies the case is closed.
Please dont do so. It is important that
these thugs and cheats are boycotted
publicly and punished by the courts
of law.
The BJP after the high tone of the
CJI has expelled Senger but with a
faint heart. Ofcourse, the party, will
compensate his wife or brothers with
some position as they did to the
chiller politician who abused Ms
Mayawati. They made her MLA and
now the woman is a minister. Look,
how the BJP leader Jagdambika Pal
defended Sengar by accusing the
opposition to plotting the murder of
the family of the Unnao survivor but
did not utter a word against his
‘biradari’ goons.
As I said we all failed in protecting
this. The Thakur leaders remained
mute and in fact protected their own
community goon masquerading as
leader. The Thakur community
remain mute and completely under
the grip their male leadership and
owner, did not stand up. The ‘others’
who felt that it is not an important
issue since the ‘victim’ does not hail
from a ‘marginalised’ or ‘minority’
community. This incident happened
during the Kathua case. The nation
new about Kathua that time but not
Unnao. I dont say that Kathua incident
was not important. I have all
support for those brave legal fighters
who fought and I can understand the
limitations of ours, resources and
everything but we do understand also
the dilemmas of people.
Kathua verdict is already out as it
was actively followed up and taken up
by the activists but unfortunately
Unnao incident was not taken up that
seriously resulting which the state has
the fullest monopoly. It tried to muzzle
her voice. She
ASIA
How we failed as a
society in Unnao
was languishing
from here
to there. The
CBI court has
not yet started. It did not have a judge.
Her uncle faced chagesheet while
father was arrested, tortured and killed
in police custody. In the meanwhile,
the girl and her mother also gang
raped. It showed how powerful these
terrorists are. Frankly, in India, incidents
become stories when the perpetrators
of crime belong to other communities.
Have you ever imagined
what would have happened if, the
criminals belonged to other community
particularly Muslim, in the case of
Unnao ? I can bet we would have seen
Karni Senas, Ram Senas, Kshatriya
Senas, Hindu Yova Vahinis, Bajrangis
and what not in the street and country
would have been in the boil and prime
time fake warriors would have
been debating about this all the
time instigating people to boycott
or even take revenge. But this is
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
social and human rights activist
Tsunami fears after quake off coast of Indonesia
Jakarta : Indonesia's
authorities on Friday urged
people living near the coast to
move to higher ground after a
powerful earthquake off the
island of Java, triggering tsunami
fears. Officials said the
earthquake, estimated by US
monitors at magnitude 6.9,
risked generating a tsunami 3
metre (10ft) high. The quake
reportedly struck at a depth of
52.8 km at 7.03 p.m.
According to the United
States Geological Survey
(USGS), the epicentre was in
the Sunda Strait, about 104 km
from the city of Tugu Hilir in
Banten province, on the island
of Java. Tremors were felt in
many cities, including
Indonesia's capital Jakarta,
prompting people to run out of
their homes. The earthquake
lasted around 40 seconds.
There were no immediate
reports of damage or casualties.
The Indonesia's Meteorology,
Climatology and Geophysical
Agency issued a tsunami warning
for four areas. The agency
said there was no change in the
sea water level in the 40 minutes
following the earthquake. The
quake also caused some blackouts,
plunging some of the
not the case with the Thakurs
alone. We have seen this in all the
communities including Dalits,
Adivasis, Muslims too where certain
matters are treated ‘internal’ and people
do not speak up. Women’s issues
are basically treated internally and
affected areas into darkness. The
Indonesian National Board for
Disaster said it was working
with local authorities to evacuate
people living on the coastline.
The board told people in
the affected areas to evacuate to
higher places. There was no
tsunami threat to other countries
along the Indian Ocean,
according to USGS data and
the Indonesia Tsunami Early
Warning System. Indonesia has
a history of devastating earthquakes
and tsunamis with more
than 2,000 killed last
September on the island of
Sulawesi.
become volatile only when the aggressor
belong to another community.
A crime is a crime is a crime and
we need to stand up and speak
against. This country is losing everything.
My worry is not merely the
constitutional court’s supremacy. It
will happen and hopefully, the girl
survive and also her lawyer. The real
worry is how we keep conspicuously
silent on times and speak up on occasions
when it
suits us. The principles
of ‘convenience’
need to be
given a go by if
we want to survive
as a democratic
nation
which can truly
be called
civilised.
I hope the brave girl of Unnao will
survive and speak up her story and
inspire many others who remain to
keep quiet. I can only salute to this
girl for her indomitable spirit, her
Islamabad : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran
Khan will address the nation on August 18 over
his government's performance after completing
a year in power, the media reported on Saturday.
Khan assumed office as the 22nd Prime
Minister of Pakistan on August 18, 2018,
reports Geo News.
The Prime Minister's Office said that Khan
has directed all ministries and divisions to submit
their one-year performance report. He has
instructed the ministries and divisions to highlight
five big achievements during the Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf government's first year in
power by August 9.
August 2019
3
courage despite all adversity that it
brought in her life. We know what do
you get after losing all your family
members. That pain will always be
there but she can be an inspiration for
many others who lose hope and just
succumb. Let us hope that she is able
to see the perpetrators of the crime
facing maximum punishment and an
example is set that before others
attempt to do it, they realise that there
is a law which can catch them.
Will this Supreme court monitoring
of this case, will send any message
to the powerful who thing they
can do things at the whims and fancies.
Let us see how our political parties
take up this issue and ensure that
no such leader is given any space in
their parties. Will they rise up and
make an operation clean up in their
respective parties ? Will our society
stand up when the matter comes from
the communities. Will communities
stand up and boycott who are found
of such criminal acts. The Supreme
Court guided court verdict in this case
will come and hopefully, with in this
year, we will get a verdict but the bigger
question is for all of us as a society
? Will the society remain mute to
‘internal’ violation and only take to
street when it is done by the ‘others’.
This is the biggest challenge. Treat
crime as a crime whoever does it is a
criminal. Ofcourse everybody has a
right to have a fair trial. We hope the
terror regimes which have many
enclaves like this in many places of
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other parts
of India will come to an end if there
are clear cut guidelines. And hopefully,
one day, these people will also
called ‘terrorist’ by the government.
Will they ? Not at all because, the
action against Sengar has only happened
after the outburst of the
Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court can widen
and monitor this case regularly and
give an ambiguous order regarding
the behavior of the police officer or
investigating agencies, it will go in a
long long way. Nothing substantial
happened after Nribhaya case but now
time has come when we all have to sit
and ponder over as why we are unable
to grow and become a civilised society.
Dont leave everything for politicians
and government to ‘think’ as
larger ownership in this case is of the
society which failed to rise up.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social
and human rights activist. He blogs
at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
twitter @freetohumanity
Email: vbrawat@gmail.com
Pak PM to address nation on
completion of 1 yr in office