Among those raising voice are Chandra Shekhar Azad, Priyanka Gandhi, Dalip Mandal
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Amidst the outrage over an incident of violence against three Dalit girls in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, calls are mounting to shift the lone surviving girl to Delhi for better treatment. A number of people including Dalit leader and Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and Dalit activist and journalist Dalip Mandal have demanded that the girl should be taken to Delhi.
The girl is battling for life at a hospital in Kanpur and she should immediately be shifted to Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said Azad. He said he was “devastated” by the news adding that “Dalits are continuously under attack in India”.
Devastated by the news from Unnao (UP), where 2 Dalit minor girls found dead and one is struggling for life. Injured survivor should immediately be shifted to AIIMS Delhi. Dalits are continuously under attack in India, let’s not normalise such atrocities. #Save_Unnao_Ki_Beti
— Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) February 18, 2021
The three girls, two sisters and their cousin, aged 13, 16 and 17, had left home in search of animal fodder on Wednesday afternoon in Baburhao village which falls in Asoha police limits. When they did not return home even after sunset, the families went out to look for them. The girls were found abandoned in a desolated place. Brother of one of the victims said their hands and feet were tied and they were unconscious.
The girls were taken to a local hospital where the younger two were died. The eldest one was referred to a hospital in Kanpur city.
Superintendent of Police Anand Kulkarni told media persons in Unnao that the doctors have found that it might be a case of poisoning. A lot of foam has also been spotted at the site where they were recovered, Kulkarni said. Six teams of police aided by trained dogs have been deployed to investigate the matter that has sent shockwaves across the country.
Dalit activist and journalist Dalip Mandal have urged people to join the call for airlifting the struggling survivor to AIIMS Delhi.
All other things can wait. Let’s raise this demand. Airlift her to AIIMS, Delhi. Immediately. #Save_Unnao_Ki_Beti
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) February 17, 2021
The family of the victims on Thursday demanded a CBI probe into the incident even as a three-member panel of doctors has been set up to supervise the post mortem.
Azad, the Bhim Army chief, demanded that the post mortem of the deceased should be done at AIIMS Delhi and the panel of medics should include doctors from the schedule castes.
Award winning author Suraj Yengde demanded that the survivor battling for life should be airlifted to Dellhi, Similar demand was echoed by poet Meena Kandswamy.
President, All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Navaid Hamid, urged the chief minister of UP to ensure that the survivor is lifted in an air ambulance to AIMS Delhi. “It might help in saving a precious life of a minor girl who has not seen springs of life,” he said in a tweet.
But it remains to be seen whether the government will give into the public outrage as some reports said the authorities believe that Kanpur hospital has adequate facilities to treat the survivor.
Meanwhile, a reporter who works with a national daily told Clarion India that the village of the three girls have been turned into a fortress with huge deployment of police force.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have tweeted about the incident.
केवल दलित समाज को ही नहीं यूपी सरकार महिला सम्मान व मानवाधिकारों को भी कुचलती जा रही है।
लेकिन वे याद रखें कि मैं और पूरी कांग्रेस पार्टी पीड़ितों की आवाज़ बनकर खड़े हैं और उन्हें न्याय दिलाकर ही रहेंगे।#Save_Unnao_Ki_Beti
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 18, 2021
Rahul said women in UP — not only Dalits — are facing a violation of human rights. “The Congress party will fight to ensure justice for such victims,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandi said that according to reports, the families were ‘under house arrest’ which is unacceptable.
Priyanka said in a Facebook post that the incident was ‘heart-wrenching’.
She asked the state government to shift the surviving girl to Delhi for advanced treatment and ensure justice for the families.
