Kargil observed a complete shut down on Sunday, in protest against the molestation of a woman. All shops remained closed and the roads deserted, demanding stringent punishment for the accused, who allegedly physically molested a woman who had gone to him for the treatment of her headache and tried to rape her after locking the door.
The incident which dates back to last week, came to fore only recently. The police has registered a case and has arrested the accused and even taken his police remand. On Sunday the protestors demanded severe punishment to the accused, strongly condemning the allegedly attempt to rape against the woman. This is second incident of crime against women that Ladakh has seen in past three months. In March this year, 12 year old girl was raped in Leh.
While the Ladakh Police had solved the case and arrested the accused within 48 hours, the anger in public remains even to this date.
It is a matter of grave unfortune and great shame that the crime against women is one of the most common crimes in India and among them, rape is further one of the most common crimes. As per the latest compilation by the National Crime Records Bureau, around 87 rape cases are registered in India every single day, a 20% increase from the previous year. These are only the cases which are reported and registered so one can figure how many more rape cases would be there which are not reported at all, and then some, which are not registered due to reasons more than one.
Even more disturbing is the fact that the accused were known to the rape victims in 96.8 per cent of the cases. However, Ladakh is a special place, where values and morals among the residents have contributed more than anything else in upholding the rule of law for decades and decades.
A rape, and an attempt to rape in a place like Ladakh is not an occurrence as common as the other parts of the country. In the march rape case, a minor girl, aged only 12, who took a lift in a car driven by the accused, who had given a lift to the girl on previous occasions too and was aware of her vulnerability as she travelled alone, between her village and her school.
The horror continued for the poor kid as she was sexually assaulted, beaten with stones and pushed into a rocky pit, which was later covered by the accused with soil and stones. Prior to the March incident, the last reported case of rape in Leh dates back to August 2022, when a lady was raped and murdered by a 32-year-old man. Now, in less than three weeks, we have another case of attempted rape on a woman.
The prompt action by Kargil police was commendable, the way the civil society in the region stood united against the incidents, both in Leh and Kargil, was true to Ladakh’s very nature. But we need to think where we have come as a society. The need is to call out, be alert about our children and women and be wary of the predators, for this only can save us all from incidents like these.
