In the Bareilly incident, it is difficult to believe that the school authorities or the villagers didn't know of the constant harassment the girls faced. Such matters cannot be hidden, and more so in the case at hand where the accused indulged in the act openly. A village pradhan has reportedly claimed that, while he had told the police right in the beginning, it took no notice of the complaint. He had to run from pillar to post before the police stirred into action. If this is true, it will not come as a surprise in a State where the police force is more diligently employed to track down missing buffaloes of Ministers and where a former Chief Minister and former Union Minister calls rape a “mistake that boys make”, for which they should not be harshly punished. In the course of time, hopefully the girls will return to their school, but the worrying part is that the incident will have sent a negative signal to other school-going girls in and around the place. As it is, the figure for female literacy in rural India is poor, although there has been substantial improvement over the decades. Fewer schools and the poor quality of teachers have over the years contributed to this state of affairs, more so since in most cases, the parents are themselves not educated enough to guide their children at home and make good the drawbacks in the school. And where the schools do exist, we have the Bareilly kind of incident.
