Aastha Thakur
Published on 04 November 2022 at 17:58 IST
The district court in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, sentenced two men to death for gang-raping a young girl while emphasizing the irony of how Indian society still views women as objects of pleasure while worshipping a number of gods for their needs
The POCSO Court, sitting Judge Pankaj Kumar Srivastava while hearing a rape case against minor girl, stated in his decision that –
“It is ironic that in our country, we worship Maa Durga for strength, Maa Lakshmi for wealth, Maa Saraswati for knowledge, and worship rivers like The Ganga like mothers. We have elevated women to the posts of President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister, Governor etc, in that country such a heinous and brutal gang rape of a minor victim puts a question mark on the whole society.”
The judge condemned society’s narrow-mindedness, saying that while they worship these goddesses for their purposes, they view the goddesses that surround us—women—as objects of pleasure and spare no one—not even young children—in their pursuit of their desires.
Three suspects were arrested and charged with gang rape, kidnapping, attempted murder, and other offences included in the POCSO Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC).
According to the prosecution’s argument, the three accused abducted the little girl in December 2021, carried her to the nearby railroad tracks, and gang-raped her there. She was abandoned there with severe injuries, still unconscious.
Afterwards, the complaint was filed against these three accused persons, one of the is minor himself.
The judge considered numerous Supreme Court rulings before confirming the two men’s death sentences and determined that the present case qualified as one of the “rarest of rare” because the criminals severely damaged the victim’s face and caused significant physical harm.
“The accused have not only gang-raped the victim but have also spoiled her face by blinding her from the left eye. Whenever the victim would see herself in the mirror, she would feel sorry for herself as to why she was born in this world as a daughter. People die once in their life and this victim will die thousands, millions of times.”
The judge further lamented that the victim will be subjected to daily purity tests, exactly like Goddess Sita, who had to pass one. The judge also wished that she would move on from the tragedy and refrain from attempting the “cowardly” act of suicide.
The court stressed that, “There is no place for the future of the victim, because this is the country where Mata Sita also had to pass through the altar of fire to prove her purity. The Court hopes that the victim will try to forget her sorrows with time and try to lead a good life and will never try to attempt a cowardly act like suicide,”
The court ordered the District Magistrate of Pratapgarh to compensate the victim financially in accordance with the Rani Laxmibai Mahila Samman Kosh scheme’s rules and to notify the court within one month of the order’s date as to whether the victim received financial compensation.