Two strikingly similar incidents took place at a distance of about 540 kilometres and within a matter of 24 hours last week.
A Dalit girl died after being assaulted in Hathras and another Dalit woman was raped and killed in Balrampur district.
In both the cases, the accused were promptly arrested and the police forced the families to cremate their daughters in the dead of the night. Hathras has gone on to become a story of national shame while Balrampur remains largely uncovered by the media.
Political parties in the opposition have also chosen to ignore the Balrampur incident where the 22-year-old B.Com student was raped, drugged/poisoned and sent home in a rickshaw with her back and legs broken.