Moved by the gruesome gang-rape of two cousins in Katara village in western UP’s Badaun district, Sulabh International today announced to build a toilet in each and every house in the “infamous” village.
The very fact that the two Dalit sisters were raped and hanged from a tree when the went to attend the call of nature in the open, caught the attention of Sulabh Founder Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, who said the NGO will ensure toilet for each family in this particular village at the earliest.
“I heard the statement of senior police official that these girls were raped because they had gone to defecate. He even said lack of toilets make girls vulnerable to these peope. Dr Pathak, said that a team of sanitation workers and engineers from his organisation will visit the village to start toilet construction work from tomorrow itself. We have ask our team to construct toilet at with highest pace.
“We are just setting an example by adopting this village as the issue of toilet was the main reason behind both the deaths,” he said.
The two women, in their teens, were forcibly taken away by four men while on their way to the public loo, gang-raped, strangulated and then hung by a mango tree in impoverished Katra Shahadatganj village in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.
According to Indian government statistics, a rape occurs every 22 minutes but activists say the figure is conservative as many rapes go unreported in the nation of 1.2 billion where sexual crime victims are often publicly shamed.
Dr Pathak urged top business houses to adopt at least one village to end the practice of open defecation at the earliest. “Any woman defecating in the open is vulnerable and the Indian government must acknowledge the issue. Resources will only pour in then,” say Sulabh Chief.
Sanitation experts said India’s lack of toilets forces women to go outside to relieve themselves, “making them more vulnerable to violence”.