The 13 -year -old girl belongs to the Dalit community, that of “untouchables”, always marginalized and violated by the upper castes. Twenty-nine civil servants present in the police station at the time of the facts were also suspended.
Le Monde with AFP
A police commissioner was arrested in India, accused of the rape of a 13 -year -old teenager who went to her police station to file a complaint after being the victim of collective rape, according to declarations of officials of Police, Wednesday, May 4. The police authorities of the State of Uttar Pradesh (UP, North) added, to the local press, that twenty-nine civil servants, present in the police station at the time of the facts, had also been suspended from their functions.
Four other people as well as the aunt of the alleged victim were also arrested, police said. The girl belongs to the Dalit community, those of the “untouchables”, marginalized and violated by the upper castes, which very often comes up against the indifference of the police.
According to the teenager’s father, quoted by the press, she was raped for several days by four men last month. When she finally decided to file a complaint last week, the chief of the police station in turn raped it, told the Childline press, a non -governmental organization dedicated to child protection, which accompanies and advises the young victim.
More than 28,000 rapes declared in 2020
This new incident aroused indignation and anger on social networks. “If the police stations are not sure for women, then where will they complain?”, A questioned on Twitter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra , an eminent member of the Congress, opposition party. “Has the UP government seriously thought of increasing the deployment of women in police stations, in order to make them sure for women?”, She adds.
The assessment of India in matters of sexual violence has been the subject of increased international attention since the collective rape of a student, also tortured, on a bus in Delhi in 2012 and died of her injuries . A wave of demonstrations had overwhelmed the whole country and shocked the world.
Since then, the laws and penalties relating to rape in India have been revised and hardened, but the number of offenses remains high, with more than 28,000 rapes declared in 2020, according to the latest official data, which do not report that from the emerged part of the iceberg. Indian police are regularly accused of not doing enough to prevent violent crimes and not carrying the affairs of sexual assault before the courts.