In yet another horrific story coming out of Unnao, two young Dalit girls were found dead and one seriously injured in a field on Wednesday evening. After the minor girls failed to return after getting fodder for the animals, the family went looking and found them unconscious. While two arrived dead, one is struggling for her life. Police believe that the girls had been poisoned. The story has left many enraged, more so because it has now been known that the girl’s family is unable to afford treatment. Some are demanding that she be shifted to AIIMS Delhi for better treatment. Since the state has seemingly failed to intervene, individuals and groups have come together to raise funds for her treatment.
Over the last couple of years, Uttar Pradesh has found several mentions in front page headlines for caste atrocities and crimes against women. Which is why Wednesday’s incident has left people across the world fuming. People have taken to social media to criticise the Yogi Adityanath-led state government for not addressing the issue, some have even pointed to the fact that people have to raise funds by themselves instead of the state doing so to save the minor girl’s life.
Several well-wishers are making attempts to get the funds transferred to the girls’ family in Unnao. Lawyer-turned-activist and Bhim Army President Chandrashekar Azad has also called for the girl to be shifted to AIIMS Delhi, “Devastated by the news from Unnao (UP), where two Dalit minor girls found dead and one is struggling for life. Injured survivors should immediately be shifted to AIIMS Delhi. Dalits are continuously under attack in India, let's not normalise such atrocities.”
An organisation called The Dalit Voice which campaigns against caste atrocities said on Twitter that the family does not have money to treat the girl, “The family is collecting funds and is treating the girl at Regency Hospital in Kanpur. The doctors are saying there could be brain damage.” The incident is being compared to Hathras, where a young girl was raped and killed by upper caste men in her village. The media and activists were stopped from visiting the family after the incident received widespread attention, “It has been 12 hours, not a single health bulletin has been issued, the whole family has been placed under house arrest, no one is being allowed to meet, even the media persons are not being allowed to come. This incident resembles Hathras,” the organisation alleged. One student based in Delhi tweeted about the state’s inefficiency to transfer the victim, “The distance between Unnao and Delhi is not in kilometres but of power, privileges, oppression and injustice. It tells you how this republic values its citizens differently.”
The organisation has shared the following link for people to contribute here.
