An 8-Year-Old’s Rape and Killing Fuels Religious Tensions in India

[Islam Imamate]

NEW DELHI — In early January, Asifa Bano, an 8-year-old girl in a purple dress, was grazing her horses in a meadow in northern India. A man beckoned her into a forest. She followed.

According to the police, he grabbed her by the neck and forced her to take sleeping pills. With the help of a friend, they say, he dragged her to a nearby temple and locked her inside.

For the next three days, the police say, the two men and at least one other raped her, again and again. They told investigators that their motive had been to drive Asifa’s nomadic community out of the area. In the end, she was strangled, after one of the men allegedly insisted on raping her one last time.

Days later, Asifa’s crumpled body was found in the forest, in the same purple dress, now smeared with blood.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/world/asia/india-girl-rape.html

This is a truly horrific crime but if it were only that and the justice system processed the accused without issue then it wouldn't be much of a story, patriarchal violence is unfortunately all too common in South Asia. But what does make this a story of note is that its causing a flare up in communal tensions.

Hindu nationalists have turned it into a rallying cry — not calling for justice for Asifa, but rushing to the defense of the accused. All of the men arrested are Hindu, and Asifa’s nomadic people, the Bakarwals, are Muslim.

Some of the police officers who investigated the case are also Muslim, and for that reason, the Hindu activists say, they cannot be trusted.

This week, a mob of Hindu lawyers physically blocked police officers from entering a courthouse to file charges against the men. The officers retreated to a judge’s house later in the evening to complete the paperwork.

I understand that the communal tensions in India can get hairy but I just hoped that everyone could agree that kidnapping, torturing, raping, and killing an 8 year old girl is plain evil and deserving of legal repercussions regardless of which community the accused and victim belong to. Apparently the police have gotten confessions from these guys. To be fair confessions are pretty suspect in India but there's also this

Police officials say they have physical evidence and DNA tests linking the defendants to Asifa’s death. They also say they have interviewed more than 130 witnesses, who “unequivocally corroborated the facts that emerged.’’

It would be one thing if these Hindu nationalists had reason to believe these men were innocent but the police seem to have a decent enough case to at least charge them and it really seems like they're defending these guys regardless of whether they think they're guilty or not. @Gandhi would not be proud....

 

[grimballer]

This is why multiculturalism doesn’t work

 

[Islam Imamate]

This is why multiculturalism doesn’t work

India has its problems but its better off than many other post-colonial states. I think if they can reduce their staggering levels of poverty and corruption these kinds of communal tensions might not be so bad. And speaking of corruption....

Eight men have been arrested in connection with the case, and several have confessed, according to the police in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the killing took place. Two of the accused are police officers said to have accepted thousands of dollars to cover up the crime. One of the arrested suspects said he was 15, though police officers, based on a medical examination, believe he is at least 19.

Yikes, that's Jim Crow level shit.

 

[Lord Commander Palis]

Disgusting story, truly horrific.

It's just amazing how different culturally the world is from each other.

 

[Fedorable]

I understand one religion does horrific stuff wherever it goes, but this is not the way to retaliate. If true, these hindu rapists should be disposed of painfully and anally.

 

[Islam Imamate]

I understand one religion does horrific stuff wherever it goes, but this is not the way to retaliate. If true, these hindu rapists should be disposed of painfully and anally.

Dude did you read the article? The reason they're "retaliating" against these Muslims is because they're grazing too close to a Hindu village. Lol, truly a horrific crime.

Jesus Christ can you lot just drop the incessant anti-Muslim bigotry for one moment? Hope you stub your toe or have a nightmare tonight cunt.

 

[Trotsky]

This hits hard.

Hope they rot in hell.

This is why multiculturalism doesn’t work

Rot in hell with them.

 

[grimballer]

This hits hard.

Hope they rot in hell.



Rot in hell with them.

Just telling it like it is

Did I hurt you feelings?

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Some shit is worth the death penalty.

 

[Trotsky]

Just telling it like it is

No, you're not. There are rapes and killings in culturally homogeneous nation states, you fuck wit.

Did I hurt you feelings?

Deeply. It's that I and all the other multi-culturalists are just too sensitive to your truths. Not that you're a reductive piece of shit.

 

[spin]

Just telling it like it is

Did I hurt you feelings?

This is a thread about the rape and murder of a 8 year old girl quit being a fucking moron

 

[Son of Jamin]

Muslims, Christians, Dalits are groups that are discriminated and targeted by the Hindu nationalists on a regularly basis in India!

If one could only reanimate the late Charles James Napier, who fought against sati (the burning of widows alive when their husbands had died) by erecting gibbets on which the perpetrators would be hung. It would be a suitable punishment for these wicked men and their protectors.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Some shit is worth the death penalty.

I agree but personally I wouldn't trust the Indian justice system with the death penalty. You have lawyers and cops involved in defending these guys on communal grounds.

Deeply. It's that I and all the other multi-culturalists are just too sensitive to your truths. Not that you're a reductive piece of shit.

In hindsight I should've been able to see that low IQ posters like him would try to shoehorn in anti-multiculturalism arguments.

 

[spin]

This is the kind of thing coexistence is trying to prevent.

The idea that we are not so different, that you could feel such a disconnection to another culture of people that you're okay with one of their eight year old being raped and killed.


This is the story of one side not even considering the other side human enough that their children deserve life it's safety and justice

 

[Islam Imamate]

Muslims, Christians, Dalits are groups that are discriminated and targeted by the Hindu nationalists on a regularly basis in India!

If one could only reanimate the late Charles James Napier, who fought against sati (the burning of widows alive when their husbands had died) by erecting gibbets on which the perpetrators would be hung. It would be a suitable punishment for these wicked men and their protectors.

Communal tensions have been an issue in India for decades but you gotta figure the rise of Hindu nationalism isn't helping matters. Then again you can indirectly blame the Congress party for being so corrupt as to allow them the space to rise to prominence. Congress got too complacent me thinks.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

I agree but personally I wouldn't trust the Indian justice system with the death penalty. You have lawyers and cops involved in defending these guys on communal grounds.

They don't already have it?

 

[Islam Imamate]

They don't already have it?

They do, doesn't change the fact I don't trust them with it.

Apparently they don't even have accurate figures for the number of executions as the official figures low ball it. If you can't even keep track of the people you execute, I'm not exactly comfortable with you executing them in the first place.

 

[IDL]

This is a thread about the rape and murder of a 8 year old girl quit being a fucking moron

Well it's also clearly about Muslim / Hindu tribal conflict and mistrust, but still.

 

[Trotsky]

Muslims, Christians, Dalits are groups that are discriminated and targeted by the Hindu nationalists on a regularly basis in India!

If one could only reanimate the late Charles James Napier, who fought against sati (the burning of widows alive when their husbands had died) by erecting gibbets on which the perpetrators would be hung. It would be a suitable punishment for these wicked men and their protectors.

I think the violence in India is as strong an argument at any that religion and religious doctrine does not meaningfully inform the mores and norms of a people: economy does. I can't think of a more beautiful and profound religion than Hinduism, and yet....fuck, I can't understand a lot of what their society permits (this not being an example, obviously).

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

They do, doesn't change the fact I don't trust them with it.

Aren't you American?