THEME 3: DISPROPORTIONATE TARGETING OF YOUNG GIRLS
CASE STUDY: BURNING OF BODIES TO DESTROY EVIDENCE AFTER SEXUAL VIOLENCE
State: Punjab
Age: 6 years
A 6 year old girl was raped and burnt alive by two assailants in the Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. The half-charred remains of the girl’s body were recovered from a house in the village. The two accused, a man and his grandfather, were arrested on the charges of murder, rape and other relevant sections of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
According to the father of the victim girl, one of the accused took the girl from his home. The Chief Minister of the state took to Twitter to write about the incident. He added that though the culprits have been arrested, he had directed DGP to ensure proper investigation is carried out and challan is speedily presented. He called upon the courts to have a fast trial and award the guilty with an exemplary punishment.
The Scheduled Caste Commission of Punjab State as well as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights took suo moto cognisance of the incident. TThey had asked for a detailed report on the case from the police and asked the law enforcement officials to take stern and prompt action against the culprits.
Killing the victim, or burning her body, has been used more often than not by dominant caste rapists to either silence the voice of the victim or destroy any evidence that can tie them to the crime. We saw something similar happening in the Hathras rape case in 2020, wherein the police themselves took initiative and burnt the body of the victim without even notifying the family once. As a result, in the Hathras case, lot of claims were being made by the media about the rape “not actually happening”, and thereby, dismissing the sworn testimony of the victim a few days before she succumbed to her injuries.