Having Accused a Politician of Rape, She Feared for Her Life. Now, She’s Fighting for It. – By Jeffrey Gettleman, Hari Kumar and Suhasini Raj
Many times over the past year, a young woman from northern India who had accused a powerful politician of rape warned the authorities that her life was in danger. If you want to live, she was told by the politician’s friends, you better drop the charges. She had reason to be afraid. Last year, shortly after her father spoke out about the rape allegations, he was beaten to death.
On Sunday, the young woman, who the authorities said is around 19, was traveling on a rural highway in a car with two aunts and her lawyer when a truck smashed into them, head-on. The young woman, the key witness in the rape case, is now in critical condition, fighting for her life. Her two aunts died.
Her family and women’s rights advocates say that the man accused of rape, Kuldeep Singh Sengar – a state-level politician and member of India’s governing party – is trying to kill the witnesses, and that the crash was a deliberate attempt on her life. The mere possibility that a lawmaker involved in a highly publicized rape case might have ordered the death of the victim has stunned India. It has provoked walkouts in Parliament and become what many see as a test case for the abuse of power.…
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/world/asia/unnao-india-rape-case.html
SEE ALSO:
- Unnao indictment – Editorial (Jul 31, 2019, Indian Express)
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/unnao-rape-case-victim-car-accident-bjp-kuldeep-singh-sengar-yogi-adityanath-5864886/ - Unnao Story Is The Failure Of Indian system – By Vidya Bhushan Rawat (Jul 30, 2019, Countercurrents)
https://countercurrents.org/2019/07/unnao-story-is-the-failure-of-indian-system - Is India Doing Enough To Tackle The Rising Number Of Child Rapes? – By Nandini Priya (Jul 28, 2019, Youth ki Awaaz)
https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/07/every-5-minutes-a-rape-incident-was-registered/ - Unnao Case Highlights the Utter Lack of Ethics in Indian Politics – By Monobina Gupta (Jul 31, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/rights/unnao-bjp-kuldeep-senga-cbi
