Yogi Govt should act as there is no procedural action against Swami Chinmayanand yet

For victims of rape in India, the road to justice is painfully slow and long. Slower and longer if the perpetrator is a powerful man or politician, particularly of the ruling party. In a damning indictment of the justice system, BJP leader and former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand has still not been charged or asked to explain himself despite being quizzed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) more than 15 days after a law student from Shahjahanpur accused him of raping and physically exploiting her for a year. The case assumes significance because just like the intimidation of the rape survivor in the Unnao case, this girl, too, has alleged threats to her life and evidence going missing and is currently under the protection of the Supreme Court. An FIR was registered against Chinmayanand only after the woman wrote a “heart-wrenching” letter to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi about her plight. This is exactly similar to the desperate act of self-immolation by the Unnao survivor in front of the UP Chief Minister’s residence to draw attention. So skewed is our legal system in favour of criminal politicians and so fearful are survivors of their clout that instead of going to the police, the student posted an SOS to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook, without naming Chinmayanand, and went underground on August 24. What worsens this case is the presumed arrogance of offender leaders, who enjoy the cover of their parent parties on the pretext of being of some use to them at management of local units. Parties, too, focus more on burying the case to avoid embarrassment. And though the BJP was forced to act against the Unnao case violator Kuldeep Sengar after a media outcry, Chinmayanand is believed to be using his proximity to Yogi Adityanath to buy some insurance. So the State Government needs to react officially, if only to scrub off the assumption that it can be host to tainted politicians. 

Sadly, the plight of the two girls gets magnified only because of the political colour associated with their complaints. For countless survivors of sexual assault in India, the battle continues to be lonely and brutal as they have to brave insensitive treatment from the police, doctors and even lawyers throughout the process of holding perpetrators accountable. The big question is, till when can we ensure an actionable justice delivery mechanism? Till when will we tolerate criminal politicians? Nearly half of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members have criminal records, a 26 per cent increase as compared to 2014 by some estimates. If we, as a nation, continue to fail our women and consistently elect sexually deviant representatives, we are condoning exploitation as a medieval tool of social control.