People want justice for victim, death penalty to accused
| Date :11-Feb-2020 |
The victim consigned to flames at Daroda village.
Our Correspondents :
WARDHA/HINGANGHAT,
Cops resorted to lathi charge after the agitators pelted stones
Markets, colleges and other establisments remained closed in Hinganghat whereas bandh was observed in Karanja and Talegaon (Sh P)
People observed a candle light vigil at Ajni Square in Nagpur on Monday, reflecting how deeply has the girl’s killing angered the society. (Pic by Satish Raut)
Demand for death penalty to the accused poured in after the young Hinganghat lecturer who was set afire by the stalker lost her battle for life on Monday morning. She was undergoing treatment at Orange City Hospital & Research Centre, Nagpur. The incident had taken place on February 3. The accused Vikesh Nagrale (27) had set the young lecturer afire in broad daylight in Hinganghat. The lecturer had sustained 40 percent burns and was critical since then. Sensation prevailed at Daroda village after the news of her death spread in the morning. The angry villagers staged rasta roko on Nagpur-Hyderabad Road (National Highway 7). They blocked the road and prevented the ambulance carrying the victim’s body enter the village. Some agitators pelted stones on the cops.
Cops dispersing the crowd at Daroda village.
When the situation was out of control, cops had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the crowd. At around 2 pm, the ambulance carrying the body was taken to the deceased’s house in Daroda village under tight security. The mob wanted Vikesh Nagrale to be set afire and face the painful death. They demanded death penalty for the accused and justice to the victim.
People gathered outside GMCH after news of victim’s dead spread.
They made it clear that if a written assurance from the government of captial punishment to culprit is not given, the last rites will not be performed. Sunil Korde, Resident District Collector, Chandrakant Khandait, Sub Divisional Officer, handled the situation and assured the agitators to raise their demands before the Government and take efforts for severe punishment to the accused. It took more than half hour to convince the agitators.
Women staging rasta roko on Nagpur-Hyderabad road. (Pics by Rajendra Rathi)
The last rites were performed after the relative of the victim, who lives in Jalgaon, reached Daroda village. Meanwhile, Anil Deshmukh, Home Minister, assured security and every possible help to the deceased family. Sunil Kedar, Guardian Minister of Wardha, also assured justice to the victim’s family members. Ramdas Tadas, MP, reached the village and consoled the family of deceased. Sameer Kunawar, MLA, also met the deceased family and demanded Government job for one of the family members. District Collector Vivek Bhimanwar and Dr Basavraj Teli, SP, appealed to people to show patience in this criticial situation. They informed that the hearing of the case will be held in fast track court and Adv Ujjwal Nikam, Special Public Prosecutor, has been appointed to plead the case.
They assured strict action against the accused responsible for the young lecturer’s death. Markets, colleges and other establisments remained closed in Hinganghat on Monday. Bandh was observed in Karanja and Talegaon (Sh P). A morcha was taken out on tehsil offices and tributes were paid to the deceased. Students, villagers and parents participated in the morcha. Later, a memorandum was submitted to Sachin Kumawat, Tehsildar. Vivek Bhimanwar, District Collector; Dr Basavraj Teli, Sunil Korde, RDC, Dr Trupti Jadhav, SDPO, Prem Basantani, Hinganghat Civic Chief, Ramdas Tadas, MP, Sameer Kunwar, MLA, Adv Sudhir Kothari, Girdhar Sidam, Daroda Sarpanch, and others paid tributes to the deceased. Meanwhile, sharp reactions poured in condemning the incident.
WARDHA: Adv Charulata Todas, President of Maharashtra Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee, condemned the incident and said government should make strict laws to prevent such incidents and ensure that justice is done. Quick decision in this sensitive case would prevent such incidents to some extent in future, hoped the MP and further added that the accused should never be given a chance to appeal and delay the judgement. PUSAD: All the mahila mandals in Pusad strongly condemned the death of the young lecturer at Vanita Vikas Mandal hall here on Monday. They paid tributes to the deceased and submitted memorandum to Dr Vyankat Rathod, Sub Divisional Officer. They demanded death penalty for the accused who set afire the lecturer.
Toxic machoism
By Maithili Bisne :
Even as one Nirbhaya still waits to see her assaulters dangle limp from the noose, another daughter has departed in the wee hours of Monday to join her in the Heavens. While the background of both these cases are very different, what now connects the two young victims of barbaric crimes is a seemingly unending wait for justice. A 24-year-old girl, intelligent and industrious, completes her post graduation in Botany and pursues further education in spite of hailing from a small village like Daroda in Wardha district. She joins a college in Hinganghat as lecturer with dreams of an even better job and better life, in a bigger place. On Monday, February 3, she alights from a bus at Hinganghat to walk upto her workplace when a 27-year-old man, who was known to her, suddenly splashes petrol from a container on her person. Even before the girl can comprehend and react, the flame from a lighter shoves her remaining days into utter misery. With 40 per cent burns but much more critical internal injuries as she inhales the toxic fumes, the girl then undergoes a rally of complicated surgeries over the next seven days, only to withdraw from the brave fight that she had been putting up, and quietly drift into oblivion. A rebuff, a ‘no’ to the advances from a married man cost her her life and to her parents a lifelong sorrow. Was it an end deserved by the starry eyed 24-year-old? How can a man take one rejection as a licence to kill? Some toxic machoism this! Why does a brush off from a woman hurt the ego more than the heart? Who are these ‘men’ out there looking to avenge rejections by throwing acid and raping a woman or setting afire a living person just to avenge a ‘no’? What kind of a society we have become where this psychotic aberrations are fast turning into an entire breed? And looking at this sorry picture from a distance with a lump in their throats are the many parents of daughters. No matter how strong and smart women they try to make out of them, time and again, incidents like the one at Hinganghat, remind them of their susceptibility to a catastrophe. They can hand out a manual of dos and donts to their dear daughters, but a twisted mind is all it will take to wreck everything. It is high time we revisit our value system and fix the flaws before it is too late. It is time we schooled our boys rather than reining in our girls, or this masculine jingoism will lead us, the society, to doom.