Both cases have exposed the terrifying impunity with which caste- and tribe-based violence continues to unfold, and the utter failure of systems meant to protect vulnerable children. As outrage grows, questions are being raised not just about the perpetrators, but about a state structure that remains indifferent to the safety and dignity of its most marginalised.

10-year-old Adivasi girl stripped and burned

Even as outrage over the gang-rape case mounted, another incident emerged from a different part of Andhra Pradesh—this time allegedly involving a 10-year-old tribal girl from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community. The child was falsely accused of stealing a mobile phone. In a disturbing act of mob violence and humiliation, she was allegedly stripped of her clothes and her body was burned with a hot stick, inflicting grievous injuries.

As per a report of NDTV, the child, Chenchamma, lived with her aunt, Sannari Manikyam, at the Scheduled Tribe Colony in Kuditepalem Kakarla Dibba of the district. Suspecting that Chenchamma stole a mobile phone from a nearby house, the neighbours allegedly burned her body with a hot iron rod and beat her. 

As per the report of the Indian Express, the police in Indukurupet Mandal in Nellore detained at least two people in connection with the alleged torture of the girl. Other neighbours heard the girl’s cries when she was allegedly being burnt with a hot iron rod on her cheeks. They rescued her and called the police before shifting her to a government hospital, where she was given treatment and discharged.

“The girl denied going to the neighbour’s house, let alone stealing a phone, and claimed innocence. We have registered an FIR and detained two people for questioning,’’ an officer from the Indukurupet police station said, as per the IE report.

Two years of silence: Minor Dalit girl raped for two years by 17 individuals

In a case that has exposed the horrific intersections of caste, gender, and institutional apathy, a 15-year-old Dalit girl from Sri Satya Sai district in Andhra Pradesh has been found eight months pregnant after allegedly being gang-raped by 17 individuals over a period of nearly two years. The abuse, police say, began when the girl was just 13 years old and continued in silence—unreported and unchecked—until earlier this month, when her mother finally approached the authorities.

Thirteen of the 17 accused have been arrested so far, including three minors. The main accused, who is believed to have initiated the cycle of abuse, remains absconding. All the adult accused have been remanded to judicial custody, while the minors are under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Justice Board. A case has been registered under several stringent provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and the Information Technology Act, 2000.

A cycle of exploitation and silence: According to the police investigation, the abuse began when the girl was studying in Class 8. After her father’s death three years ago, she and her mother—belonging to the Madiga (Scheduled Caste) community—had moved to a small village near the Karnataka border. The family, impoverished and socially marginalised, was struggling to survive.

As per the report of India Today, one day, after school, the girl and her SC classmate were reportedly photographed by a member of the local Boya community. The Boyas are a dominant and politically influential caste in the region. The accused used these images to blackmail the girl, threatening to release them on social media. Two men then sexually assaulted her. The incident was filmed and circulated among their acquaintances, leading to a pattern of repeated rape by at least 14 men over two years.

The remand report and survivor’s statement reveal that the blackmail, coercion, and threats never stopped. As per a report of the Indian Express, “It was her age, her caste, and her social vulnerability that made her easy prey,” said District Superintendent of Police V Ratna. “The exploitation was systematic and prolonged. This was not just one incident, it was organised abuse that continued for two years.”

The men who allegedly assaulted her are aged between 18 and 51. Most of them belong to the Boya community, while three others, including her classmate, are from the SC community and are being investigated for failing to report the abuse.

Arrests and charges: On June 9, police arrested six individuals:

• Achampalli Vardhan (21)
• Talari Murali (25)
• Badagorla Nandavardhan Raj alias Nanda (23)
• Arencheru Nagaraju alias Haryana Cheruvu Nagaraju (51)
• Boya Sanjeev (40)
• Budida Rajanna (49)

Seven others were arrested the following day, including minors. The main accused remains at large. Police say several of those arrested already have criminal records. A special investigation team has been formed under Dharmavaram subdivision to trace the absconding accused, as per The Week.

The case has been registered under sections related to rape, gang-rape, criminal intimidation, and the use of technology for exploitation. The police have also sought permission for a DNA test on the unborn child, which will be critical for the prosecution.

Systemic failure at every level

This case has laid bare deep institutional failings. Despite being a government school student, the girl dropped out of Class 10—a critical academic year—without her teachers raising any concern or notifying authorities. “It is unimaginable that a child disappears from school and nobody asks why,” said SP Ratna, as reported by IE. “Even after she became visibly pregnant, nobody in the village reported it.”

Local welfare structures, too, failed to intervene. The Grama Mahila Samrakshana Karyadarsi, a village-level cadre of women volunteers who serve as ‘Mahila Police’, did not conduct any welfare checks. Neither did Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers, who are supposed to monitor maternal and child health at the community level.

“We are looking into these failures. These systems are in place specifically to protect vulnerable children. Their inaction has consequences,” Ratna added, according to the IE report.

Caste, power and pressure to stay silent: According to local officials, who spoke with the IE, the caste dynamics in the village were crucial in enabling the silence. The survivor’s family belongs to the Madiga community, a Scheduled Caste group with minimal presence in the village. Of the 17 accused, 14 belong to the powerful Boya community. Police say that when the case began to unravel, Boya community leaders attempted to suppress it by pressuring the girl to marry her SC classmate—one of the minors now under investigation—to give the appearance of consent and close the matter.

“Despite the survivor being visibly pregnant, no one reported the crime. The silence of the village was not accidental—it was imposed through caste hierarchies and social fear,” said a senior official involved in the investigation as per the IE report.

Ongoing care and state protection: As per the report of Deccan Herald, the survivor is now under medical care at the Government General Hospital in Anantapur. Doctors have confirmed that abortion is not an option due to the advanced stage of pregnancy. The girl, who is anaemic and struggling with depression, is receiving counselling, nutritional support, and round-the-clock care.

She will not be sent back to the village after delivery. Instead, both mother and newborn will be shifted to a state-run women’s shelter. “We fear coercion. Even from jail, these men could pressure the family to withdraw the case,” the SP said, as per IE report.

The state has also moved to obtain court permission for DNA testing of the unborn child. Police say this will strengthen the case and help establish individual responsibility among the accused.

Political fallout: The case has triggered political controversy and public outrage. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over the incident, calling for swift investigation, speedy trial, and strict punishment for the accused. “Strong evidence must be collected to ensure that the guilty do not escape justice,” he said in a statement.

Opposition leader and former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy of the YSR Congress Party, however, accused the TDP government of shielding perpetrators with political links. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Reddy wrote: “As an indicator of Govt’s insensitivity, the state has witnessed 188 rapes and 15 rape-murders in one year. Even recently, an Intermediate tribal student from Anantapur was found murdered and dumped in the woods after a brutal attack.”

He further questioned the TDP’s commitment to women’s safety, calling the situation “disgraceful” and “preposterous”.

Systemic negligence and caste impunity

The intersection of caste, poverty, and gender has made SC/ST girls disproportionately vulnerable to abuse. Both these cases reveal not just individual acts of brutality, but a pattern of systemic neglect, caste dominance, and institutional collapse. In the Dalit girl’s case, school teachers failed to follow up on her sudden dropout in Class 10. ASHA workers, Mahila Police volunteers, and child protection officials did not intervene despite visible red flags. In the tribal child’s case, the violence remained hidden until the neighbours raised an alarm.

The lack of early intervention, social stigma, and fear of dominant caste groups contributed to the silence in both cases. In the gang-rape case, Boya community leaders reportedly tried to pressure the survivor into marriage to close the matter. In the tribal girl’s case, no community elder stepped in to stop the torture or report the crime.

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A Pattern of Impunity? This report details horrific crimes against Dalits in UP, Rajasthan, MP and beyond

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A 17-year-old girl, studying in class 12, was allegedly drugged and sexually-assaulted by five youths near her village in Kurukshetra district of Haryana, reported NDTV on February 25, 2021. One of the accused, is the cousin of the survivor’s friend, whose house she last visited.

Three of the accused were arrested by police. Of them, two youths are 18-years-old and the third person, a juvenile, has been sent to an observation home. According to District Superintendent of Police Himanshu Garg the FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by the survivor’s family after the minor failed to return home.

Sub-Inspector Praveen Kaur said the survivor had gone to her friend’s house after school on February 22. Her father said the girl visited a coaching centre for an English-speaking course from 1:30 PM and returned by 4 PM. However, on that day, the centre said the girl had not attended the class.

Instead, her friend’s cousin took the girl, suffering a dizzy spell, to a place near Umri Chowk where the other youths, including a youth working at a hotel and a juvenile, were already present. The girl said she was also drugged at the time of the crime.

She was finally rescued by her parents who spotted the girl on a motorcycle travelling from the Ladwa town side, placed between two boys. Her parents were heading towards the police station at Barara chowk at 7 PM.

“They recognised her from the school dress. While the girl was seated in the middle, the boy sitting behind her had been pointing a country-made pistol at her head,” the complaint said.

The girl’s family members intercepted the motorcycle and managed to rescue the girl after overpowering one of the accused. Yet again, the girl was drugged during the altercation, said police.

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Uttar Pradesh: Where women live in fear

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A 45-year-old woman has been brutalised and raped in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, and is now being treated in hospital where she was admitted in a critical condition. According to a news report, the woman was raped after she refused to give water to four men who approached her late at night on Saturday. 

According to news reports, the police stated that the woman’s husband had died about four years ago, and her two children. Her sister lived in a shanty on a hillock near Hardi village, about 60 km from the district headquarters. She ran a small shop from her shanty. Her two sons, aged 16 and 18, were not at home at the time of the incident.

Manjulata Patle, additional superintendent of police, Sidhi was quoted by Hindustan Times stating that the woman was attacked by the men who “men tried to enter her house late at night on the pretext of asking for water. When the woman refused to give them water, the men broke into her house, raped her and injured her with an iron rod.” Police have stated that the four men, have been arrested on Sunday and were identified as residents of a neighbouring village.

The victim had been brutalised with the iron rod and subsequently fainted due to excessive bleeding, the police told the media, adding that her sister could not call anyone for help at that time as their house is in a desolate place. However she eventually managed to call an auto-rickshaw and took her to the police station, from where she was taken to the district hospital, and later referred to a medical facility in Rewa.

A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 34 (common intention).  On Monday Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra told the media in Bhopal that no culprit will be spared and a speedy trial will be conducted.

Ironically, on Monday, both Mishra and MP Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan were guests of honour at an event on raising public awareness towards the safety of women in the state.

“नारी का सम्मान जहां हैं, संस्कृति का उत्थान वहां हैं।”

मातृशक्ति का सम्मान हमारी संस्कृति की विशिष्ट पहचान है।लेकिन समाज में महिलाओं के प्रति घृणित सोच रखने वाले लोगों के नजरिए में बदलाव लाने के लिए अपराधियों को कठोरतम सजा के साथ जन जागरूकता लाना भी जरूरी है।@BJPMahilaMorcha pic.twitter.com/x1t6CyzB2V

— Dr Narottam Mishra (@drnarottammisra) January 11, 2021

स्वाभाविक रूप से हमारे यहां मां, बहन और बेटियों का सम्मान है; वह अन्यत्र दुर्लभ है।

सीता-राम, लक्ष्मी-नारायण, गौरी-शंकर, राधे-कृष्ण; पहले नाम देवी मां का आता है। यह इस बात का परिचायक है कि यह केवल परंपरा नहीं, संस्कार हैं हमारे! #AsliHero pic.twitter.com/GvSZwAOmID

— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) January 11, 2021

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The post Madhya Pradesh: On being refused water, four gang-rape, brutalise woman with iron rod appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A grieving father tried to kill himself on Tuesday,  two months after his daughter died by suicide. The minor girl had been gang-raped allegedly by seven men, while they were at a wedding in Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh, reported the Times of India. Her father couldn’t even get a first information report (FIR) registered as the first step to seek justice for his child. In desperation and grief he attempted to take his own life. He survived, and it was then that the local police were moved to react to the case. Bastar range IGP Sundarraj told TO that the girl’s body has been exhumed for an autopsy.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Yashwant Jain has also  written to the Kondagaon SP, and sought action against the local police inspector for not registering an FIR earlier. The commission has asked for a detailed investigation report within 10 days stated the news report. The police on the other hand maintain that they had not been informed about the gangrape allegations. However TOI quotes sources in Kondagaon saying local police had promised her father that they would take action, but did nothing. 

Bhim Army Chief, Chandra Shekhar Aazad, has also raised this issue over social media:

https://twitter.com/BhimArmyChief/status/1314162459985362944

रायपुर, छत्तीसगढ़ में एक किशोरी के साथ 07 दरिंदों ने गैंगरेप किया। मुंह खोलने पर हत्या की धमकी दी गई। पुलिस ने FIR दर्ज नहीं की। न्याय की उम्मीद टूटने पर पीड़िता ने आत्महत्या करके अपनी जान दे दी। पीड़िता के पिता ने भी आत्महत्या की कोशिश की। कड़ी कार्यवाही करें। @ChhattisgarhCMO

— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) October 8, 2020

Bastar police has now said five accused were arrested, after the FIR was registered on October 7, under sections  376(D), 306,201,34 IPC against the accused persons, “for abetment of suicide of the victim, who was sexually assaulted in Kanagaon village, where she went to attend her uncle’s marriage”

https://twitter.com/bastar_police/status/1314172134772469760

05 accused arrested in Odegaon incident of Kondagaon district. On 07/10/2020 FIR registered u/s 376(D), 306,201,34 IPC against the accused persons for abetment of suicide of the victim, who was sexually assaulted in Kanagaon village, where she went to attend her uncle’s marriage pic.twitter.com/flxhBBfbQP

— Bastar Police (@bastar_police) October 8, 2020

According to a late update by news agency ANI, the then Station House Officer (SHO) of Dhanora has been suspended for “negligence in registering the case of rape” and a departmental inquiry will be conducted against him.

The extensive report by TOI revealed how the poor father also attempted suicide “because he believed a case couldn’t be registered since two months have passed and his child is dead,”. However, he luckily survived, and the police woke up. Now as the media, and now the Bhim Army too took cognisance the police  are expected to move ahead, according to news reports the FIR has been registered and attempts are being made to nab the seven accused. The men are said to be residing in villages adjoining the girl’s,  around 190km from Raipur. 

The TOI reported that the victim was about 16-17 years old and had gone to attend a relative’s wedding at a neighbouring village with family and friends “ she was enjoying a dance when two drunken youths spotted her,” stated the report, the two dragged her to a nearby forest,  five other men came and the teenager “was raped for several hours,”  TOI quoted IGP Sundarraj. The teenager told her friend “that the rapists threatened to kill her” if she spoke about the rape or complained to anyone. The accused reportedly brought her back to the wedding venue. The traumatised teenager hanged herself on July 20.

According to the IG the local police did investigate her suicide and asked family members to contact them in case they come to know what triggered it. The news report states that it was the victim’s friend who told the family about the gangrape days after she had died. The family did not know if a case could be registered even after the victim was dead. “In their ignorance of the law, the family didn’t get back to the police. After two months, her father also attempted suicide by consuming pesticide, but was saved by doctors,” IG Sundarraj told the TOI

However the TOI report also quoted Kondagaon SP Siddharth Tewari suggesting that the girl’s father was mentally ill, and that his suicide attempt had “nothing to do with girl’s suicide.” However, sources in Kondagaon said that after her suicide, the local police station inspector had assured that an FIR would be registered and asked the family to be prepared to record their statements. But police allegedly took no action on the promise. 

As expected local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders aired their opinions on the Kondagaon gangrape. “Daughters in Chhattisgarh are not safe, right from Balrampur to Bastar. What kind of ‘Nava Chhattisgarh’ does the Congress government plan to create? They don’t even have words of consolation for the victims. The state government is busy playing political drama over the Hathras incident,” leader of opposition Dharamlal Kaushik was quoted by the news report. 

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