Protester: “In Uttar Pradesh, a girl was raped, brutally tortured and murdered. Then her body was burnt by the police, without any consent. Then how can we expect safety from the police?”
Police official: “You are in Assam not in Uttar Pradesh. Why are you so much bothered?”
Protester:Â “Sir, do you have a daughter?”
Police official:Â “No, I am unmarried.”
Protester:Â “Sir, do you have a mother?”
Police official:Â “I was born without a mother. I just fell down on the earth.”
This was what a police official in Assam said after Hathras gang-rape protesters confronted him for laughing at them during the protest.
According to The Telegraph, women protesters had gathered at the Rotary Club in Guwahati on Saturday demanding justice for the Hathras gang-rape victim and for victims of similar cases that have occurred in Assam since 2019.
When the protestors were speaking about the incident and were demanding the police’s guarantee for women’s safety, the cops allegedly began laughing at them slyly. They went on to confront a cop.
“Why are you laughing at us?” they asked.
“I laugh all the time,” he said.
“What will happen tomorrow if somebody rapes me?” they asked.
“Laws are there, many laws and orders to protect you,” he said.
He then went on to make the insensitive comments about being born without a mother which sparked massive outrage among protesters as well as people online, after one of the protesters, Mayuri Deka, took to Facebook to narrate the incident, reports News18.
Mayuri wrote:
“This is the mentality of the so-called protectors of the society, the mentality of the system and mentality of the government, which has portrayed a serious issue like rape and murder in such a light way, in such a funny way, as if nothing has happened, nobody has died, nobody has been raped. Shame on him. Shame on this system.”
Have a look at the full post here:
Conversation with a police officer at a protest :Today at 11.30 am we people gathered at Rotary, Guwahati Club and we…
Posted by Mayuri Deka on Saturday, October 3, 2020
The horrific Hathras gang-rape has managed to bring out in the open the toxic mentality of many powerful and influential people. For example, a BJP MLA recently claimed that in order to stop rape, parents should teach their daughters “sanskaar”. Also, a former Supreme Court judge wrote on Facebook how rapes happen due to the rising unemployment in the country.
Statements like these hold other things, especially women, responsible for rape when it is the rapists who should be held responsible. And a policeman, a protector of the country, to trivialise a rape case is nothing but deplorable!