After UP chief minister Mayawati on Sunday ordered strict action in case of a dalit girl who was blinded in Kannauj district when she tried to resist a rape attempt, the state government swung into action and suspended one constable and a sub-inspector for failing to register an FIR when the girl was first brought to the police station. In an another incident, an 18-year-old dalit girl was allegedly raped by a youth in Ranipur Beladi village in Basti.
The police has arrested one of the accused Niranjan Yadav and a search for the second accused Kuldip Yadav is on. The 14-year-old victim, meanwhile, may never be able to see again since the doctors treating her at the Vinod Dixit Hospital said that the girl has lost sight in one eye completely and has suffered nearly 80 per cent damage in the other. The delay in taking the girl to the hospital had further worsened her condition. Principal information secretary Prashant Trivedi, meanwhile, said that the girl had suffered partial damage in one eye only.
It may be recalled that on Saturday, two youths had tried to rape a 14-year-old dalit girl in Kannauj but when the girl resisted, the miscreants pierced both her eyes with a knife and fled. The police did not register a FIR in the matter and kept the girl waiting for almost two hours before allowing her to get medical treatment. The incident, coming close on the heels of the Lakhimpur rape and murder incident, is another major embarrassment for the Mayawati government.
The second post-mortem conducted by a panel of expert from Lucknow confirmed that the girl was strangulated, but ruled out rape. Meanwhile, in a statement issued here, the BSP spokesman said that preliminary investigations revealed that he two miscreants owed allegiance to the Samajwadi Party.