On 11 April, the nation woke up to the horrific details of the Kathua gang-rape case in which an 8-year-old was drugged, gangraped and brutally murdered in January 2018, as police filed chargesheet in the case. The ghastly manner in which the girl was allegedly treated by the accused is being seen as a tragic reminder of December 16, 2012, gangrape that took place in Delhi and shook the nation.

The Jammu and Kashmir police, in its chargesheet, described the details of the manner in which six men allegedly raped the 8-year-old girl after abducting her on 10 January.

The police have charged Sanji Ram, the caretaker of a small temple in Rassana village in Kathua, as the main conspirator behind the abduction, rape and killing of the girl. Other accused in the case are two special police officers, Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma, Ram’s son Vishal Jangotra alias Shamma and his friend friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu. Another accused in the case is Ram’s nephew who is a juvenile.

The minor girl had been reportedly held in captivity for a week by the accused in a small village temple in Kathua district. She was kept sedated and sexually assaulted repeatedly before she was finally bludgeoned to death. According to the chargesheet, the accused policemen sought to rape the girl one more time before she was killed.

The demand for justice for the little girl has found voice from all the corners of the country.

On the other hand, there is a young girl in Unnao who has alleged that she was raped by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, an MLA belonging to the ruling BJP, and his brothers. She is fighting for justice, while the main accused are roaming free.

After several days of hue and cry over the matter, an FIR was registered against Sengar at Makhi police station in Unnao under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the POCSO Act on Thursday. The question that the entire country is asking now is when will the BJP MLA be arrested?

While the Opposition is mocking the slogan ‘Beti Bachao Beti Badhao’, the silence of the ruling party BJP, especially its women leaders, in both the cases is deafening.

The BJP leaders have ducked the questions posed by journalists in connection with the two cases that have sent shockwaves across the country.

When Union Minister Smriti Irani, who has been usually vocal in such cases in past when BJP was not in power, was faced with the question, she chose to roll the window of her car over and move away without making a statement.

Notably, in 2012, when the nation poured out its anger against the brutal gangrape of a medical student on the streets of Delhi, it was Smriti Irani who targeted the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not talking about the matter.

In a tweet, posted on 23 December 2012, she had said, “Wonder y d PM can address d Nation on FDI but not on d challenge d Nation faces wid regards to women’s safety. Guess FDI more imp than rape”

Wonder y d PM can address d Nation on FDI but not on d challenge d Nation faces wid regards to women’s safety. Guess FDI more imp than rape

— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) December 23, 2012

Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh is the only Union Minister from the Modi government who has till now publicly condemned the Kathua gang-rape and those defending the accused in the name of religion.

“There needs to be a difference between humans and animals and there is. However, what happened to an 8-year-old child in Kathua proves that being called a human is an abuse. Animals are better,” wrote Singh in a statement he posted on Twitter and Facebook.

Addressing those who played the ‘Hindu’ card to defend the accused, Singh warned, “Those who are trying to defend the criminals using religion as a shield should note that they will be treated like criminals too. Their support proves that they too are capable of committing such a heinous act. Chose whose representative you want to be.”

According to the former Army chief, criminals should be punished in such a way that it sets an example for generations to come.