Ujjain, 31 July, 2023: In yet another instance of violence against women in India, a Muslim girl who worked as a physiotherapist was assaulted and battered by some males in the middle of the street in the Madhya Pradesh city of Ujjain, Foej reported. The horrific tragedy happened as the girl was returning home from work on a Friday night, shocking the Muslim community as well as the general public.
According to the report, the police detained the two attackers, however, a video posted on Twitter by Foej showed the woman saying five individuals attacked her. Additionally, she asserted that one of the attackers told her that the “police are in my pocket” and that his mother was also engaged in the incident.
On Saturday, a police station was gheraoed by a sizable number of people, including Noori Khan, a female Madhya Pradesh Congress member and representative for minorities in the state. They sent a memo to the Superintendent of Police requesting harsh punishment for the offenders and bulldozing of their homes.
The victim, who was attacked and is currently being treated in a hospital, reportedly claimed that a man named Hitesh Badwaya sidetracked her and pulled her dupatta.
When she objected, Badwaya’s assistant grabbed her hands and the two of them began pounding her. Noori Khan visited the hospital to check on the victim, who sought justice and the arrest of the attackers, as seen in the video Madhya Pradesh Congress posted.
She revealed to Khan that the attackers had also beaten a man who had come over to assist her. Later, the suspects claimed that the man who arrived said “was my brother, ” and that they attacked “me because of an enmity with him”, she continued.
“Everyone in the neighborhood was watching. They were going to kill me. He tore my clothes too,” the woman stated while sobbing bitterly.
She said, “They had sharp objects and tried to ruin my face and they started molesting and groping me, at one moment I felt like they would rape me.”
“When I cried for help and begged in front of them to stop and spare me, they said tu kuch nahi kar sakti, prashasan hamara hai, hamara koi kuch nahi bigad sakta, police hamari jeb me hai, yahan bhi Manipur bana denge”, she added.
According to her, those five people were present during the attack, and one man, who was partially naked, told her that she deserved such treatment. She asserted that the attackers were incited to replicate the atrocities inflicted on women in Manipur by the man and woman involved in the assault.
She added that a woman from a nearby home brought a sword, gave it to the guys, and urged them to kill and tear down her.
Additionally, the victim claimed that neither the police nor the media were taking any action to provide her justice. The incident occurred a few days after the Manipur incident, in which a group of men gang-raped two women and displayed them around naked.
Speaking over phone to FoEJ correspondent over the issue, Aasif Mujtaba said “ It is shameful to see such incidents but for the past couple of years, these crimes have proliferated. The Union government talks about empowering Muslim women, but the States in their rule does the opposite”. Mujtaba leads an organization called Miles2Smile that works with victims of communal violence in India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of India, led by Narendra Modi, has come under scrutiny for failing to stop violence against women in Manipur and other parts of the nation.
The assault in Ujjain demands swift and decisive action from law enforcement and the judicial system to hold the attackers accountable and ensure the victim’s safety and well-being. It also underscores the pressing need for comprehensive measures to address violence against women, promote gender equality, and foster a safe environment for all citizens.
