#RapeCapitalUP: Hey Akhilesh Yadav! Your Family Is safe, No?

After the horrific incident of Badaun, where two girls of the same family were abducted, repeatedly raped, murdered and then hanged from the tree, the ‘young and dynamic’ chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, had asked a journalist questioning his actions: “You are safe, aren’t you?”

Since that day, the televisions and newspapers never ceased to print rape-cases as their headlines.

Baghpat, Mathura, Azamgarh, Etawa, Gorakhpur, Mainpuri, Bareily, Muzaffarnagar, Basti and Sitapur have witnessed cases of rape, molestation and other forms of violence against women. Each case more horrific than the other, raising questions on humanity and the administration of the state, but occurring non-stop.

In Muzaffarnagar, a girl was shot at by the assailants because she raised alarm and foiled their attempts to rape her. In Gorakhpur, a minor girl was raped and left unconscious in a field. A 10 year old girl was raped and abducted afterwards for filing an FIR with the police in Meerut. A woman was raped in Mathura by the owner of a school where she had applied for job.

In Mainpuri, three sisters have gone missing since Saturday and there is no information about them till now. A minor girl was abducted and gangraped by four men in Azamgarh on Saturday. Incidentaly, both are ruling Samajwadi party stronghold.

The case of Bareily gangrape is more horrific than all of these. A 22 year old girl was gangraped and then forced to drink acid. She was later strangulated by a plastic rope and her body was mutilated by acid and petrol. The victim’s body was recovered from a field in Aithpura village on Saturday. Her unidentified body is still lying with the police which is on the search for the culprits.

On an average, 10 rapes are reported daily in Uttar Pradesh according to the statistics provided by National Crime Records Bureau. In 2013, the state registered 126 rape cases in one week alone. Within three days of the Badaun case, over 20 cases of rape, attempted rape and molestation have grabbed headlines from his state, let alone those who were not registered by the police or did not come to light.

But it seems that the Akhilesh Yadav-led UP government has done nothing about it in its now three-year- old term. In fact, he has not been able to do anything about his home district Etawa.

Last year, an 18-year-old boy was beaten to death by three youths on the Etawah-Lucknow highway because he protested when they tried to harass his sister. Police had refused to file an FIR in the case initially and the local authorities acted only after people put up a road blockade.

Barely two weeks before this incident, a young girl was kidnapped from a busy market place in Etawah and gangraped in a moving car. She filed a complaint with the police. However, police insisted that the girl was lying, claiming she was drunk and had gone with the men on her own accord.

Mutilated body of a 16-year-old was found in a well just 150 metres from her house in the town. She was completely naked, with multiple injuries on her body. Her private parts were brutalised and her kurta was tied around her neck, implying she was strangulated with it. The rest of her clothes were found lying on the ground a few feet away. She had filed a rape complaint with the police before her death.

In February this year, a minor girl committed suicide because five men had tried to rape her and had shot a video of the assault. They were threatening to make the video public. She couldn’t bear the humiliation and consumed poison tablets.

Just a day after the Badaun case, the mother of a rape victim in Etawah was brutally beaten by the rapist’s family for not withdrawing her case against them.

But CM Akhilesh did not seem perturbed. He woke up only after the centre chided his government and asked for filing a report.

Interestingly, the cops, who were hand in gloves with the assailants in two of the cases and had showed irresponsible behavior in many by not agreeing to filing an FIR or failing to protect the victim by another attack, were neither questioned nor summoned by Akhilesh. After the cases became highlighted, they sprung into action and nabbed few of the culprits. Still many of other cases remain absconding and the police is only showing helplessness.

Till now many big leaders, including central ministers have raised questions about attitude of CM Akhilesh and his government. NCW has indicted the UP government in the Badaun rape case. The home ministry has intervened and has asked Akhilesh to take action at the earliest. The cabinet is likely to discuss the situation in UP today.

The lackadaisical attitude of the Akhilesh government can be pretty much summarized by the statement made by CM’s father and former CM Mulayam Singh Yadav who believes that “boys make mistake”.

If they cannot save their own town, how can we expect them to be responsible for the whole state? Afterall, his family is safe, no?