People of Ughaiti, in  Budaun, an area now in the news for being the place where the 50-year-old anganwadi worker was brutally gang raped and killed, have nabbed the temple priest accused of the crime. The man was hiding in the same village where the heinous crime took place, reportedly at the home of a disciple. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the locals apprehended the priest accused of rape and murder, and then handed him over to the cops, who arrested him. 

The HT quoted police officials as saying that the accused priest was “about to leave the village” when he was nabbed by alert locals. The priest used to live in the temple where the woman was gang-raped and murdered on Sunday night. He has been booked along with his two aides for the ghastly crime. The aides were arrested on Wednesday, and a cash reward of Rs 50,000 was announced for his arrest.
 

The main accused in Budaun gang rape and murder case arrested from a village in Budaun. @Benarasiyaa pic.twitter.com/YLvoKotV3z

— Kanwardeep singh (@KanwardeepsTOI) January 7, 2021

According to the news report, the temple priest is a native of Aonla area of Bareilly district, who moved to Budaun seven years ago and started living in the temple. The complaint has reportedly stated that the victim went to the temple located on the outskirts of her village on Sunday afternoon and did not return. “Later, in the night, the priest and his two aides brought her body to her house in a sports utility vehicle (SUV) and informed the family members that she fell into the dry well on the temple premises. They then left the place hurriedly,” stated the news report.

According to a report in The Outlook, the woman’s husband said she had gone to the temple worship on Sunday but never returned. The family members, informed police and the body was taken for a post-mortem examination on Monday evening, and the brutal rape was confirmed. It was also stated that the victim had suffered “a rib fracture and her left lung was also damaged because of heavy force.” The chief medical officer, Budaun, Dr Yashpal Singh said the woman died of trauma and excessive bleeding. Meanwhile, the Station House Officer (SHO) of the area has been suspended for dereliction of duty and the district magistrate has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased.

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“I wanted to go to Badaun alone and share my pain with the victim’s family, Uttar Pradesh police have detained me in Shahjahanpur and put them under house arrest. I am safe but currently in government captivity,” retired IAS officer Surya Pratap Singh’s message on his social media handle has demonstrated how the Uttar Pradesh government is reacting in the wake of the horrific gang rape and brutalisation of a 50-year-old woman allegedly in a temple. 

According to Suryap Singh, who is a suporter of the Dalit rights movements, and an associate of the social platform Tribal, he is being prevented from visiting the victim’s distraught family, by the state’s administration. Singh, who is now active online as a crusader for social causes says he has never seen a government behave like this. “How will law and order be disturbed by my going alone?” 

मैं अकेला बदायूँ जाकर पीड़ित परिवार से मिल उनका दर्द बाँटना चाहता था, उत्तरप्रदेश पुलिस ने मुझे शाहजहांपुर में रोक कर गेस्टहाउस में नजरबंद कर दिया है। मैं सुरक्षित हूँ पर फिलहाल सरकारी कैद में हूँ।

मुझ अकेले के जाने से कानून व्यवस्था कैसे भंग हो जाएगी? लोकतंत्र की हत्या है ये!

— Surya Pratap Singh IAS Rtd. (@suryapsingh_IAS) January 6, 2021

Meanwhile, according to a report in Times Now, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken cognisance of the crime and written to state Director General of Police (DGP) Hitesh C Awasthy seeking his intervention in the case. The report stated that NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said that a member of the commission will go to the spot to “investigate the matter, and meet the family,” she added that the NCW will “follow this case closely” and “will make sure that justice will be delivered.”

However, there continues to be a lack of political outrage that such a brutal gang-rape and murder of a woman who had gone to offer prayers at a temple in Uttar Pradesh should have evoked. Horrific details of the victim’s brutalisation in the temple on Sunday, January 3 have emerged and shocked readers. While the case was registered by the police, under IPC sections 376-d (gang-rape) and 302 (murder) at the Ughaiti police station, the temple priest, a key suspect, according to news reports is yet to be arrested. The woman’s son had said that it was the temple priest, and two others who had come to the woman’s house with her body and left. The 50-year-old woman died of massive injuries sustained in the attack. Her post-mortem report confirmed rape, injury in the private parts, and fracture in the legs. 

Chief Minister Adityanath’s silence on this case is in direct contrast with the fanfare a few months ago when he had marked the first day of Navratri the nine-day Hindu festival celebrating the nine forms of the mother goddess Shakti or Durga, with launching ‘Mission Shakti’ that aims at “guaranteeing security & respect for every woman in the state.” The CM had then warned that there will be “zero tolerance in cases of crime against women, and those guilty will be dealt with an iron hand”. Police divisions across the state were busy amplifying the CM’s scheme, many functions were held and facilities such as help desks for women launched including women help-desks at all 1,535 police stations. None of that has slowed down crimes against women in the state.

And when someone like Surya Pratap Singh, a 1982 batch IAS officer, attempted to shed light on the issue, he claimed he was detained. This is not the first time the state has taken action against Singh for his online activism. Around five months ago, Singh was booked for allegedly posting ‘misinformation’ on social media relating to government efforts to deal with the Covid-19 situation. A case was registered with Hazratganj police station on a complaint filed by Subhash Singh, police outpost in charge, alleging that the former bureaucrat had posted some content, which is inaccurate and insulting to the government. Singh had questioned the government’s alleged “strategy of keeping the number of tests low to show the low occurrence of Covid-19.” He was then booked under various sections for disobeying government order, crime committed with intent to cause fear or alarm to the public, conducting public mischief, etc. Way back in 2015, as reported by Zee news then, Suryapratap Singh, who had been under scrutiny for his posts on social media and had  sought for Voluntary Retirement (VRS) from the IAS.

Related:

Woman allegedly gang raped, brutalised inside UP temple 

Uttar Pradesh: 19-year-old woman allegedly gang-raped when returning from Navratri 

Uttar Pradesh records highest crimes against Dalits: NCRB …

Two Dalit labourers in Uttar Pradesh survive brutal assault by upper-caste mob

Ghaziabad crematorium roof collapse: Accused to be charged under NSA

 Maharashtra Shakti Bill 2020: Civil society denounce new provisions

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