Many alumni and students from Mount Carmel College and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, have condemned the brutal attack on a Dalit girl in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, and the response by the government machinery to the crime.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, faculty, students and alumni of IIMB also sought support for the victim’s family. “We seek assurance that the family will not be intimidated, but rather supported to get justice,” the letter said.
“We demand that our law and order system follows due process. Not encounters. Not cover-ups. Not extra-judicial killings. Not use tools of governance against us every time we peacefully protest actions of our government,” said the 187 signatories.
The letter goes on to read:. “We stand together and say “Enough!” This stops in our generation. This stops with us.”
In an open letter to the Union Home Minister and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, many students and alumni of Mount Carmel College took objection to the response of the U.P. government and statements by police officials denying the rape.
“These statements and actions provide excuses and only serve to strengthen patriarchal mindsets and the impunity that upper caste men, including Thakurs and Brahmins, enjoy,” they wrote.
They also demanded that recommendation by the SIT to conduct narcoanalysis tests on the victim’s family members be withdrawn. “With most of these cases meeting the same fate, that of negligent investigation and inaction against the accused, members of the upper castes have been allowed to retaliate against the reporting of cases with further brutality,” they wrote.
Action sought
Signatories of both letters called for strict action against those officials who tried to “cover-up” for the accused.
