What the name of the woman raped and battered in Hathras says about the crime

October 01, 2020 10:15

In the Hathras case, the woman's name draws attention to the fact that the crimes of caste were compounded by the exercise of state power. In Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh, to be Thakur is to be politically powerful -- it is, after all, the caste group the chief minister belongs to. And political power has long warped every institution, including the state police.

It explains why the police refused to acknowledge she had been raped in the weeks that she was still alive. It explains why they rushed to cremate her in the dead of the night -- a law and order problem to be dealt with as protests broke out and her family demanded accountability from the government.

Read the column here

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