In the huge furor that followed the Badaun gang rapes and murders a month ago, cops were suspended and upper caste Yadav suspects arrested, some of whom confessed to the crime. And yet, the victims’ parents are increasingly frightened of what the authorities will now do to shift the blame. There is groundless talk of honor killing and in this new salacious scenario, the girls were promiscuous and punished by their parents for it. After visiting the victims’ village, our writer travels further afield to the riverine Yadav villages where the arrested suspects grew up, and finds that the authorities’ imagination is actually a perfect match with the local attitude that this is just what happens to ‘out of control’ lower caste girls who are ‘asking for it’. If the Ganga hadn’t submerged the village of Badam Nagla four years ago, would Kavita* and Ragini still be alive today? That is as pointless as asking would Kavita and Ragini be alive today if they had not needed to leave their house at night to pee.

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