Even as the heat over ‘Gudia’ gangrape and murder case is not over, yet another ‘public unrest’ troubles Himachal Pradesh, this time in the wake of rape of a minor girl allegedly by her school teacher in the Tissa area in Chamba district last week.

In Tissa, the issue turned into a clash between two communities over past three-days, as the victim girl belonged to the minority community.

The police had, however, arrested the accused teacher after the complaint of  parents of 16-year-old girl, the members of the minority community subtly went to school for a meeting and attacked the school teachers selectively, a day after. This triggered angry protests by other community, demanding action against those, who instigated attack on school teachers.

The police had to resort to cane-charge on Monday to control the mob. “The situation in Tissa is normalising. The Police carried out a flag march in Tissa in the morning. Superintendent of Police and Deputy Commissioner, Chamba talked to the two communities, teachers and social leaders to restore peace,” Director General of Police, Somesh Goel told The Statesman.

HP may not be very high on crime rate in the country, the recent incidents have put the peaceful hill state in spotlight for crime against minor girls, with three cases stirring up public sentiments in row over past few months. Worse off, the state Police is repeatedly being questioned for its role.

Two of these cases- One of an eight-year-old girl, daughter of poor migrant labourers in Kullu district, who was allegedly raped and murdered brutally on 29 April, 2017 and another of  ‘Gudia’ in Shimla district- are still under probe.

“The Kullu Police are still clueless on the culprits. We have demanded a CBI inquiry into it,” said Desh Raj Sharma, a social activist in Kullu.

Sharma, along with other social activists, took up the issue with the authorities continuously in May through demonstrations and even wrote to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NHRC had later registered a case into it. The Police probe is also under High Court’s vigil.

In Gudia case, wherein the 16-year girl’s body was found in Kotkhai area on 6 July (two days after she went missing), the Police arrested six persons on 12 and 13 July. However, dissatisfied with this, the public went on rampage in Shimla district and forced the state government to go for CBI probe into the matter.

“Police is doing its duty. We may shortly get some leads shortly in Kullu minor girl’s case,” said the Director General of Police.

Incidentally, all these issues have come handy for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the poll year to blame the government for ‘lawlessness’ and crime. Cornered, the state government has no option but to curse the BJP for ‘politicisation’.