India: outrage spreads over girls' rape, murder

(Vatican Radio) Outrage in India continues to spread in the wake of the brutal murder of two girls. In an eerie replay of the gang rape murder of a young physiotherapy student in Delhi in December 2012, Indian civil society is once again convulsed – this time over the rape and murder of two teenagers. On the morning of May 28, the bodies of the girls who are cousins, 14 and 15 years old, were found hanging from the branches of a mango tree in a village in Western Uttar Pradesh. They had disappeared the previous evening when they went to the toilet in an open field, as is the normal practice in small villages. When they failed to return, the parents went to the local police outpost and were shoved away.

Listen to the report from Carol Andrade in India

An examination of the bodies indicated that they had been strangled after being sexually assaulted, and the villagers pointed to four men, all named Yadav, an upper caste to which the chief minister of UP also belongs. The problem is that the policemen in the outpost are also Yadavs and are now accused of taking sides to protect the culprits. The girls are Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, still almost as vulnerable as they were to unwelcome attentions, in spite of the name change. 

The media came in as villagers sat before the tree, refusing to let the bodies be taken down, and in the ensuing uproar, three policemen have been suspended, two alleged culprits have been arrested, and two others are still at large. The matter has now been placed before the state home ministry and the chief minister has made haste to announce that each family will be awarded Rs 500,000 as compensation.

The tragedy underlines the lawless nature of Uttar Pradesh, the largest and most populous state in the country. This election however, could bring change. Out of the 80 parliamentarians the state sends to Delhi, 72 are now from the ruling BJP.

Besides caste questions, the case also underlines the sheer lack of basic facilities, so that even sanitation and home plumbing becomes a luxury and answering the call of nature is fraught with danger. The Yadav government is trying to undertake damage control but without much success. A detailed inquiry into the case is now underway, both its criminal as well as its police protocol aspects.

For the girls and their families, of course, it will always be too little, too late.

Carol Andrade for Vatican Radio