While civil society has been vocal and outraged against the Kathua and Unnao rape cases, they must remember the different ways being employed to bury the incidents.
While civil society has been vocal and outraged against the Kathua and Unnao rape cases, they must remember the different ways being employed to bury the incidents. The society needs to see through the different shams being perpetrated by interested parties. This is important so that the issue stays alive, crimes are punished and justice is served. Look wary as the ruling party may try to hurl accusations at the opposition in the coming days, alleging that they are trying to destabilize the country. There is nothing of the sort. Rape is a crime that must be punished; it is as simple and straightforward.
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There might have been a design in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence for a while, before the heat forced him to speak out. By not commenting, he might have hoped to deviate or shift focus from the issues. Do not believe the screaming on social media about how you cannot blame the PM. There is blame because of a difference, the BJP was involved here. Ministers shielded the accused in one case, while a BJP MLA is directly accused in another. This proves the state machinery was complicit in these crimes. That is why there is blame as there should be. Modi should have touched upon those facts and said that these were people from his party.
Apart from this, there are also efforts to make this a Hindu vs Muslim case and deepen schisms. Civil society must not let anything derail the true focus: There is no justification for shielding anybody, there never can be. Do not fall for the familiar this is trial by media trope trotted out by some. There is no such thing in these cases. It is a nation which wants to see the 'long arm of the law spares nobody' being more of a reality than a cliché. Don't lose focus, civil society and make it happen, BJP.
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