In India greatest victims of ill treatment, rape, physical aggression and murder are women and girls. Most of them belong to Dalit and weaker sections of society. Recently six rape cases involving Dalit girls have been reported in Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit woman Mayawati is Chief Minister. According to police reports, another Dalit girl was gang-raped by three men in Nade Man village in Kunnauj district of UP.
Even today brides are being tortured; some being burnt – for dowry. The Supreme Court while refusing to grant bail to Mahendra Kumar Gulati, a convict in bride burning case, rightly observed that those burning women to death for dowry should be hanged. For rape and murder, Islamic law awards death sentence. In fact such harsh punishments, no doubt, act as a terror to the minds of the criminals. Moreover, fear of God and faith in accountability before God is also very essential.
G Hasnain Kaif
Bhandara, M.S.