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The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign faces its gravest test yet in the BJP-ruled Haryana where a 19-year-old board topper was kidnapped and then gang-raped at a village in Rewari district. The irony is stark because the campaign has relied on the state to promote the well-being of the girl child. Its brand ambassador, Olympic bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik, is from Haryana and so is Sunil Jaglan, the sarpanch of a Jind village, who led the ‘Selfie with daughter’ drive on social media. The nature of the crime apart, the brazenness with which it was carried out, is shocking. The student was waylaid at a bus stand and then driven some 40 km away where she was gang-raped.
In a damage-control exercise, the Khattar government transferred the Rewari SP and constituted an SIT headed by a woman officer to probe the incident. But there will probably be more questions raised than the SIT can answer. One is the reluctance of the police to register an FIR despite the well-established provision for filing a Zero FIR in cases where the incident took place in another area. Also, the woman sarpanch of the village has admitted that a panchayat had warned the village youth from getting involved in criminal activities. The SIT has also said one of the arrested accused was involved in a molestation case earlier but the matter was ‘settled’ at the panchayat level in brazen contravention of the law. This may have whetted the appetite of the criminals.
The panchayats must ensure they are not used as a buffer or illegal proxy to keep the police away. Meanwhile, in an expression of solidarity, a Mahapanchayat of 25 villages at Kosli has observed a bandh. The opposition has predictably stepped up its attack with the Congress quoting figures to show crime against women has gone up in Haryana after the BJP came to power. In a poll-bound year, spiralling crime will prove ammunition for the opposition which the Khattar government can do without.