Will effective policing act as deterrent in ‘lawless’ Uttar Pradesh?

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh has been in news for all the wrong reasons. A state once known for its art, culture and history has been reduced to a lawless region struggling to provide safety to its women.

Rampant rape cases, irresponsible policing and shocking comments by leading politicians have only exposed the misogynist viewpoint in our society.  

On Thursday, body of 16-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. Family of the girl has alleged rape. 

In yet another shocker from Uttar Pradesh, a 35-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a police officer in the presence of his subordinates in a police station in the state’s Hamirpur district, the latest in a string of shocking sex attacks in the troubled state.

The woman said she had gone to the station overnight on Monday in the state's Hamirpur district to seek her husband's release when she was attacked.

"At 11:30pm when there was no one in the room the sub-inspector took me to his room and raped me inside the police station," the woman told a television news channel.

The woman filed a complaint with a senior officer on Wednesday over the attack, which allegedly occurred when she refused to pay a bribe to secure the release of her husband.

"The procedure will be followed, the victim has filed a complaint and the guilty will be arrested soon," Virendra Kumar Shekhar, a police official from Hamirpur, said.

Sub-inspector Balbir Singh said a criminal case had been lodged against four officers from the station.

The case is the latest in a string of horrific rapes and murders in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, where its chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is under growing political pressure over his handling of law and order.

Late last month, two girls, aged 12 and 14, were gang-raped and lynched in their village. They were attacked after going into a field to relieve themselves at night because they did not have a toilet at home.

Their families refused to cut the bodies down from the tree for hours in protest, saying police had failed to take action against the attackers because the girls were from a low caste.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged all politicians to work together to protect women, in his first comments on the issue since the hanging of the girls sparked public outrage.

Modi warned politicians against "politicising rape", saying they were "playing with the dignity of women" in his first speech to parliament since sweeping to power at last month's national elections.

India brought in tougher laws last year against sexual offenders after the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi in December 2012, but they have failed to stem the tide of violence against women.

Watch: A video on rape in India that will shock you!

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