Far from home, but united in their rage.
Over 200 people, a majority of them belonging to the Manpur Patwatoli locality of Gaya, held a demonstration at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, on Sunday, 13 January, demanding justice for the rape and death of a 16-year-old girl in Bihar.
The case had grabbed national headlines last week, when a mutilated and gang-raped body of the minor girl was discovered on 6 January. Since then, there has been a national uproar over alleged police inaction. Residents of the area in Gaya, primarily the Patwa weaving community, had not been operating their power looms in protest of police’s nonchalant attitude.
Rajesh* said the community was aghast at what was happening in their home town and wanted the cops to take immediate action. Back home, he said that his family lives only 200 metres away from the home of the victim’s family.
“Most of us are software engineers. It has been seven days now, and still there is no medical report or post-mortem. The forensic report should come in 2-4 days, but there has been no movement. On top of that, the police department is torturing the victim’s family, and trying to pin a case of honour killing on them. They have a uni-directional approach to this case. If at 6 pm, a girl is going out and getting kidnapped and murdered, what will happen to our sisters there?Rajesh*, a protester
Demand for a CBI Inquiry
“We are all from such a society that if you knock on any door, there will be a minimum of one engineer in that family. We are so educated, but still all this is happening. The government is also not doing anything, Is the police a protector or culprit-lover?” he questioned.
The peaceful gathering also raised slogans demanding justice for the family of the girl, and demanded that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), so that an unbiased agency investigates the case at the earliest.
“We can trust the CBI, we want them to investigate. Police in Bihar is not working properly. Police do what they want,” he said, adding that 45,000 weavers in Gaya, of the same community, were striking in protest.
Another protester, a native of Gaya, said that crimes against women had increased in the last two years.
“Police is trying to put a new spin and modify the case to redirect it to honour killing. When the post-mortem has not been complete, how can they conclude it is honour killing? We want fair police investigation, CBI investigation and we want her parents also to not be troubled. There was not much crime some years ago, but police is slacking. They are not working properly that is why we are raising our voice, since we can’t go home and do anything.”A female protester
She also added that police laxity in this case would encourage more crimes against women.
“When my colleagues heard that I am planning to go back, they were scared for me. I don’t like that Gaya is getting such a bad name. If police does its work properly, any place will be safe to live in,” she added.
A Stain on the ‘Manchester of Bihar’
Patwatoli, where the incident took place, is also called the ‘Manchester of Bihar’ for the high number of looms in the area. The weaving community of Patwa all reside in nearly the same geographical area and constitute a neighbourhood unto themselves.
Raju Kumar, who is also from Gaya, aid that such incidents were “heartbreaking.”
“We are here to pay homage to the girl, who was barely 16 years old. This kind of brutality is very sad and the news was terrible to hear. This is first such case we are hearing from there. Such cases should be investigated from all facets,” he said.
“Police is trying to frame the family of honour killing. We do not know what are the pressures on police, but we have gathered here to demand justice and an expedited CBI inquiry, free from the bias that the Gaya police is showing. We want to bring national attention to what has happened and set an example to the criminal-minded people.”Raju Kumar, protester
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