Press. Voanews.
The crimes took
place months ago in different parts of India — a gang rape and murder of an
eight-year-old in Indian Kashmir in January and a rape of a 16-year-old girl in
the eastern state of Uttar Pradesh last year. Amid fears that the victims are
being denied justice, a chorus of outrage has erupted across India.
The reported
details of the brutal gang rape of the eight-year-old girl, Asifa Mohammad
Yusuf Pujwala, in a Hindu-dominated region of Kashmir, hit national headlines
this week after hundreds of right-wing Hindu activists, including some members
of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, took part in a march to protest the
detention of eight Hindu men in connection with the crime. A group of lawyers
also tried to stop police from entering a court to file charges against the
accused men.
The support for
the accused has sparked a massive wave of anger. The men arrested include a
former government officer and police officials. According to the police, the
young girl, who belonged to a family of nomads in Kashmir, was abducted in
Kathua and kept captive for days. They say she was heavily sedated and gang
raped before being strangled. A shocked nation is drawing comparisons to the
gang rape of a physiotherapy student in 2012 that ignited nationwide protests.
Groups of women
took to the streets Friday in Mumbai, New Delhi and Benguluru to protest the
crime and the hashtags #Kathua and #justiceforAsifa trended on Twitter.
Thousands of ordinary people, Bollywood celebrities and cricket stars joined
the chorus of protest.
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