Even as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been espousing ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ to encourage women to compete in every sphere, the UP Police are either doing nothing to protect girls from goons or harassing them to end their lives.
The first case of cops not ensuring safety to a girl from goons was reported from Meerut where the victim gave up studies over threat to her life from rowdies.
Sunita (name changed) of Kharkhauda area was pursuing Intermediate from a local college. Some youths of a particular community used to harass her on way to school or way back home. Several times, the goons intercepted the girl and threatened to attack her with acid if she did not “satisfy their lust”.
Her family informed local police several times but the cops looked the other way. Later, the girl’s family contacted the kin of the accused, requesting them to restrain their wards. However, the move boomeranged and the accused stormed the girl’s house last week, assaulted family members and threatened them with dire consequences. Fearing threat to her life, the girl stopped going to school.
Ironically, the matter was in the know of the SSP (Meerut) and he claimed to have directed the local police to register a case and initiate action against the accused.
Meanwhile, in Gonda, a woman ended her life after being harassed allegedly by the local police. Abdul Kareem of Dhanauli hamlet of Kotwali area alleged that his wife Sajju was being harassed by local cops after which she consumed some poisonous substance to end her life on Monday.
Kareem alleged that a local youth was murdered some days back after which the police raided their village and rounded up innocent villagers, including his wife, and harassed them at the police station. The police used to summon his wife randomly to the police station for quizzing and torture her. Fed up with the regular harasment, Sajju ended her life.
Kareem submitted an application in this regard to senior officers but no case was registered against the errant cops. The body of the victim was sent for autopsy.
