By IANS,
New Delhi/Lucknow: The National Commission for Women (NCW) Saturday recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged atrocities against women of Uttar Pradesh’s Bhatta-Parsaul village, evoking a strong reaction from the Maywati government which termed the allegations “baseless” and sought the panel’s reconstitution.
The NCW’s recommendation for a CBI probe in its preliminary report came amid demands from the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a judicial probe into the violence at Bhatta-Parsaul following agitation by farmers for higher compensation for their acquired lands.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi visited the village after May 7 violence that killed four people, including two policemen, and quoted villagers speaking of “rapes and killing” by police.
NCW acting chairperson Yasmeen Abrar Saturday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for not registering any first information report (FIR) on complaints of victims and not posting women police in the area. The NCW has sent its report to the Prime Minister’s Office and the home ministry.
Abrar, whose remarks supported Gandhi’s claims about police atrocities on villagers, said the commission report states that the women in the village have been molested and sexually assaulted. “There are allegations that they have been raped but it could be confirmed only after all the investigations are over,” she said.
The Uttar Pradesh government demanded immediate removal of Abrar from her post and said she was trying to appease Congress leadership.
“Since there is not an iota of truth in her (Abrar’s) statement, it is quite apparent that the NCW’s chief had levelled the charges only with a view to gaining a few brownie points before the Congress leadership,” a state government spokesman said.
The spokesman urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reconstitute the commission with apolitical members who would not be guided by the agenda of their respective political parties.
“I would like to ask the commission’s chief how would she react if such false allegations were levelled against women of her own family,” the spokesperson asked.
The village in Greater Noida, near the Indian capital, has become the epicentre of the farmer’s protest for higher compensation of takeover of their land.
An NCW team which visited the village May 12 noticed ransacked homes, horrified women, hungry and helpless children and human bones lying in the ashes on the ground.
“There are bones of human beings lying with the ashes of burnt bodies. The family members of the villagers have been burnt alive. The burnt houses bear the marks of flames on the walls. Villagers, especially women, are not just broken, but terrified,” said Abrar.
Abrar said she did not believe in the forensic report of the state government which denied the presence of any human bones in the heaps of ashes in the village. “We have got certain proofs and pictures, which we cannot disclose now, to prove it.”
She expressed surprise at Chief Minister Mayawati not visiting the affected village though her native village of Badalpur is “only 15 km away”.
“Being a woman, she should have been more sensitive to atrocities against women,” Abrar said.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the original problem of the farmers was being overlooked in the controversy created by remarks of Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party leaders.
“The irony is the original problem is getting lost in the whole controversy, that is the inadequate compensation to the farmers,” Sitharaman told IANS.
She said that only an independent inquiry can ascertain the truth of what happened in the village.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi also favoured a judicial probe. “A judicial inquiry will find precisely that (more facts),” Singhvi said answering queries.
He wondered why the Mayawati government in the state was not agreeing to a judicial probe when statutory panel like the NCW had come out with its report.
Gandhi had met the prime minister with a delegation of farmers from Bhatta-Parsaul and handed over pictures of ashes with bones, injured people and ransacked houses.
He quoted villagers speaking of “mass murders, repression and rapes” by police in the village.