Whither Uttarakhand? From environment to tourism, it's all wrong |
In 2020, a Dalit girl was gang-raped and murdered in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. There was considerable delay in filing the FIR. The police hastily cremated her body despite the family's protests. A journalist from Kerala who was coming to investigate the matter was picked up on the way and imprisoned under serious charges.
In 2022, a teenage girl was raped and murdered in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh. The police cremated her body overnight. The FIR for the crime, committed on 21 January, was filed on 1 February. Those who raised their voices were intimidated and threatened.
The case of Ankita Bhandari's murder in Uttarakhand in September 2022 is similar, but more serious. It took her father three days to even get an FIR registered. Important evidence was destroyed when a BJP MLA got Ankita's room demolished with a bulldozer. The police did not even allow the mother to see her daughter's face and quickly cremated the body.
This has become a familiar style of policing in BJP-ruled states, especially........