New Delhi: Nearly 200 members of faculty, students and alumni of one of India’s top business schools have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding his intervention to secure justice for the 19-year-old Dalit victim of the vicious crime at Hathras.
Asking for justice for the victim, who died under the brutal attack without recourse to good medical care and for her family who, along with her, were deprived of the dignity of properly conducted last rites, the letter calls on the prime minister to take note of the particular plight of those in marginalised communities.
“We seek assurance that the family will not be intimidated, but rather supported to get justice. We demand that in addition to the perpetrators of the rape, those who seek to bury this matter with such impunity are also punished,” reads the letter, signed by those associated with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
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“We demand the right to safety. To dignity. For all Indians. We demand that our law and order system follows due process and justice in this case and always. Not encounters. Not cover-ups. Not extra-judicial killings,” the letter reads.
It also asks the government not to use the tools available for the maintenance of law and order on peaceful protesters but instead to ensure safety and security for all citizens.
Noting that injustice affects all in the country, the letter says, “We will no longer sit by idly while our Dalit sisters are subjected to harassment and indignity. As the heirs of Ambedkar, Gandhi, Kabir, Savitribai Phule, Basavanna and countless others who have fought for equality and our rights, we will no longer consent to this injustice.”
The letter ends with the declaration that this should be the last generation to suffer such abject cruelty. “We stand together and say “Enough!” This stops in our generation. This stops with us.”