A heartrending incident in Aligarh in which a two-year-old girl has been brutally murdered has outraged and disgraced the whole nation. The reason that the girl’s father had not paid off the amount of Rs 10,000 barrowed from the killers which enraged the latter to kill his little daughter.
Such dastardly act of cruelty and barbarity has been unreservedly condemned. An instant action against the killers has been demanded.
No civilised nation with a democratic polity can tolerate such pathetic instance of tragedy.
It is also pertinent to mention here the increasing instances of child abuses, including sexual assault upon women, rape and murder in Odisha have now become an intractable problem. Such brutal acts of barbarians are contemptuously condemned. Not a day is spared in newspapers and TV channels on which the cases of rapes and child abuses have not been reported.
It is regrettable that occurrences of these horrendous and shocking incidents of sexual violence have not impacted the State Government and the latter is frightfully apathetic towards the shameful and disgraceful acts. Only stubborn determination and political will of the State Government can solve this sexual violence.
The delayed action and lackadaisical attitude of the law-enforcing agencies not realising gravity of the offences committed against the victims abet the sexual crime. Therefore, dereliction of duty and responsibility in apprehending the criminals perpetrate the heinous crimes. A few days back, a tribal Junior Engineer (JE) of the Works Department was publicly humiliated hounded and forced to do sit-ups a hundred times holding his ears in public by the Patanagarh BJD MLA.
Even the Executive Engineer present at the spot had also slapped the same helpless engineer instead of defending him on the direction of the MLA Soroj Meher. The JE’s offence was that a road constructed under his supervision was of substandard nature.
If the MLA desired to show his power, position and privilege, he could have brought this matter to the notice of Chie Engineer or Vigilance officers. He has committed a monstrous offence in enforcing law by himself uncaring due process of law. Had Mr Meher ventured to inflict such kind of humiliating punishment to a JE of higher caste, the consequence for him would have been unthinkable. Since the poor JE belongs to ST, no action against the MLA has been taken after the lapse of a week.
Nobody is above law. The rule of law and accountability is a powerful weapon in a democratic setup. It protects, defends and upholds the dignity, liberty and other fundamental rights of the citizens in event of its violation.
It is regretful and disgraceful that rule of law has failed to be equally applicable in all cases irrespective of status and position of a person. Now it is time to test the integrity and impartiality of our dear Chief Minister with regard to this sensitive case. I think he will let the force of law take its course.
(The writer, a columnist and a regular contributor to Letters to the Editor, is a resident at Nilakantheswar Marg, Baramunda Bhubaneswar)