By Special Correspondent
New Delhi: The women group Women India Movement (WIM) on Tuesday came down heavily on the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Bihar Government for its condoning attitude towards the ghastly incident of setting a girl on fire as the Bihar police is yet to arrest the perpetrators of this heinous who succumbed to her burn injuries. The group said it betrays the double standard of the State government in dealing with the crimes against women as the victim belonged to the minority community.
Speaking with Muslim Mirror, WIM national secretary Tarana Sharfuddin said it is unfortunate that the CM Kumar did not show any seriousness in the Gulnaz Khatoon case who lost battle for life after struggling for 15 days in a hospital. Three weeks have been passed since the gruesome incident has happened but all the accused are still at large .
WIM India It said that the CM, who is now on the mercy of BJP, is trying to appease the hardcore constituency of his government’s major ally. Young girl Gulnaz was set on fire by a jilted lover in Vaishali district of the state when the elections were under way in the state.
It seems that the Nitish government is also in the footsteps of Yogi Adiyanath-led UP’s BJP Government in respect to the woman safety where crimes against women including rape, murder, and molestations have become a new normal, she said.
She also accused the Bihar CM of attempting to put the barbaric incident under wraps in order to appease the hardcore constituency of his coalition government’s major ally. After the recent assembly elections his party JD(U) has reduced to minor constituent in the new government and his survival as a CM is at the mercy of the BJP which emerged as biggest partner in the Bihar ruling NDA .
She pointed out that no action was taken against the accused apparently because the government did not want to disturb the fortunes of the CM during the elections.
She said that stringent laws are in effect for safety of women but they failed to curb the crimes against women which need to be made stringent.
It seems that Nitish government is competing with the Yogi government on the question of woman safety as the Hathras incident showed how the state administration made brazen attempts to save the accused who belonged to the Yogi’s caste, Tarana underliend.
She also slammed double standard adopted in Gulnaz’s case by the media.
“The blazing media attention on Hathras incident received with politicians falling over each other to score brownie points that put the Yogi Govt. on the back-foot. However, in Bihar a Muslim girl was burnt alive after she spurned the offer of marriage from a Hindu youth of the neighborhood”.
On social media, citizens have begun calling out the hypocrisy of those who turn such crimes into examples of so-called ‘Love Jihad’ if the accused is a Muslim. Not many are saying such things in this case where the victim is a young Muslim girl from a poor family, and the accused are from a dominant caste.
She pointed out that the role of the local police here too is suspicious, much like the Hathras case. According to the news report, the police got information about soon after the attack and reached the hospital. Even though they reportedly met the victim and registered her statement, the police did not register an FIR in the case. It was only after the video of the victim giving her statement in hospital pin-pointing went viral, after four days, the police registered an FIR stating the report.
The Opposition parties of all hues have looked the other way, not even making any ritualistic mention of the incident to express their grief. This incident spells out as how Muslim-Hindu divide has penetrated deep into the psyche of the society and the administration alike, WIM leader said.
She also noted that the PM pet slogan is “BetiBachaoBetiPadhao” but it seems to be a farce as in BJP ruled states women are facing all sorts of crimes including rape, murder and molestation.
She said WIM demands that the perpetrators of this heinous crime should be arrested immediately and due compensation be given to Gulnaz Khatoon family.