Not a single day passes when the media does not report about rape of women and minor girls in one part or the other.
Notwithstanding the passage of Nirbhaya Act during the UPA regime and death sentences to the accused in Nirbhaya rape case, there has been no drop in the rape incidents.
More recently, the NDA government even promulgated an ordinance amending the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), seeking to award death sentence to the accused in raping of minor girls.
Yet, such incidents continue to happen, as was evident from the heinous incident of a minor girl’s rape at Dachepalli in Guntur district on Wednesday.
What is most unfortunate thing is that such incidents are taking religious and political colour across the country.
The Kathua rape incident in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the many rape incidents, but it was given a communal colour.
Though it is against the law for naming the victim, the media named the girl indicating that she was a Muslim girl and that accused were Hindus who had allegedly committed the crime in a temple.
It took the communal colour, forcing people attack the Hindu religion as a whole. And naturally, the BJP had to bear the brunt of the attack.
In the case of Dachepall incident, too, the rape has taken a political turn with the YSR Congress party losing no time in turning it to its political advantage.
While party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy directly blamed Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu holding him responsible for the rape.
He even suspected that the accused could be a TDP activist and said such incidents were happening only because Naidu had not taken action against the TDP activists indulging in atrocities against women in the past.
On Friday, Jagan even sent his firebrand MLA R K Roja to create a ruckus at Guntur hospital where the victim was undergoing treatment.
As expected, Roja was at his vitriolic best to attack Naidu for not giving protection to the minor girls.
The TDP leaders also did not lose much time in countering the YSRC onslaught. Local MLA Y Srinivasa Rao said the relatives of the accused Subbaiah were followers of YSRC Congress party and their pictures were still there on the flex boards in Dachepalli.
Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, too, expressed concern over such incidents and wondered what Guntur MP Galla Jayadev was doing when the rape was happening in his district.
While it is nothing but natural for political parties to try for political gains in every opportunity, it is unfortunate that even rapes of minor girls are being given political colour. But politics in the country has lost its dignity long ago!
