Daijiworld News Network - Puttur (GA)

Puttur, Feb 3: If rape could be comapared to animal behaviour, then surely those who support this brutal act could well be no better than beasts.  If dignity is everyone's right, then respecting the dignity of others is surely the prime duty of each and everyone.

However, time and again one comes across ample examples, which defy the basic fact that dignity is the right of each and everyone.  In the past one-month itself, more than 7 rape cases have been reported in the district alone.  It is an alarming development considering the fact that this district holds the distinction of having higher literacy rate or even people who know to respect life. But these incidents have proved that status and education can co-exist with bestial behaviour or in other words, crime is not necessarily an offshoot of illiteracy and poverty.

A few days ago, a class 7 girl hailing from the dalit community was raped in the woods at Ichlampady near here.  It was reported that about two days before the rape, one of the accused had tried to molest the same girl when she had gone to a nearby grocery shop in the evening.  Though she informed home, no one dared to speak against the accused who hails from a higher caste.  Within two days of this incident, she was pulled along to the nearby forest where she was raped by another man who too represents a powerful (not only in numbers but even in terms of money) caste.

However, when the family members went to file a case against the accused, the police reportedly did not register the case.  On the other hand when the accused came to know that the victim and her family had gone to the police, they even threatened to kill the girl.  Yet the police turned a deaf ear to minor girl's plea.

But once the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti took up the issue and protested against the inaction of the police, the episode started hitting the headlines of the major newspapers.  Now after almost 15 days, the Uppinangady police have registered a case against the accused Srinivas Poojary and Prabhakar Shetty.

Looks strange that even the system, which is duty-bound to protect the dignity and uphold the respect of each human being, could bow before some unknown forces or a few currency notes.  But this is the truth right now that dignity and respect are secondary as power, money and authority are primary requirements of the day.