Children protest rape, murder of 3 students in India
Posted February 23, 2013 9:56 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Hundreds of young people protested on Saturday in Bhandara district of western India’s Maharashtra state, demanding the death penalty for those responsible for the rape and murder of three young sisters Voicing their anger against perceived police inaction, students participating in the rally demanded capital punishment for those responsible.
“The police should catch the culprits immediately and they should be given capital punishment. If the police had acted swiftly and caught the culprits, justice would have been delivered much earlier. Any girl could be a target of
such brutality so action must be taken immediately,” said one participating student Asha.
Post mortem reports of the girls aged 11, 6 and 9, confirmed sexual assault and murder, which in turn enraged locals on Wednesday.
Reportedly, the girls were last seen leaving for school on February 14 and since then they had been missing. The victims’ classmates brought the school bags of two of the girls back to their home, after which their grandfather alerted the police and lodged a police complaint.
Two days later their bodies were recovered from a well, half a kilometre from the village.
Women protesters also raised concerns about the security of women in wake of the rape case.
“There is a sense of fear in the hearts of people in wake of these cases. There is very little security being provided for women and that is worrisome,” said Hemalata a school teacher participating in the rally.
This incident comes just two months after the horrific gang rape of a 23-year-old woman aboard a bus in New Delhi that sent shock waves across India.
Issues of safety and security for women in the country have become a big issue after the infamous Delhi gang rape incident showed nationwide resentment against the cases of crimes against women.
India’s criminal justice system is widely seen to have failed women who are sexually assaulted. One woman is raped every 20 minutes in India, according to government statistics, but the conviction rate is among the lowest in the world and one of the key reasons is lack of proper investigation.
