Ashamed to term India as developed or developing: Deepika Singh

Kochi: Making a fervent appeal to think before celebrating freedom in a country where children are raped and women are totally unfree, eminent lawyer and human rights activist Deepika Singh Rajawat said she was ashamed to term the country 'developed or developing.'

Addressing the Manorama News Freedom Conclave 2018, the lawyer, representing the Kathua rape victim, said the country was little progressed when politicians said they would rape the bodies of women.

In an emotionally charged speech, she said the country could only develop when women were treated as human beings.

Urging politicians and leaders to effect change for the good, she said her nation was the 'mother of all religions.'

The lynchings, rapes, and assaults on women implied that the country was going the regressive way.

She said the government cannot be silent when it was required to act.

“I think of my daughter as I hear of an assault. If everyone thinks so, we can be a better society,” she said.

There should be a will to protect women rights, she said, adding there was a lacunae, even in the judiciary.

“Being called anti-national is like getting raped and lynched daily,” she said.

She said a political will, action, and implementation was the need of the hour.

The lawyer said those who called her anti-national only exposed the mindset of those making the allegations.

“The ones who raise such allegations have to read the Constitution. No one need to teach me nationalism. My nationalism is all-embracing,” she said.

Urging everyone to live in 'peace and happiness,' she said political agenda was at play in Kathua too.

Playing politics and bringing in religion when an eight-year-old was raped and killed speaks volumes of the state of affairs now.

The powers that be were trying to scare the warriors who were taking up valiant battles now, she said.

“Unfortunately, I do not get an accommodation in Jammu and Kashmir. I feel bad for being like this,” she said.

She said a judicial officer was behind bars now for trying to assault a woman. This was the kind of change required, she said.

Deepika Singh Rajawat had been receiving threats ever since she took up the case of an 8-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir in January. Later, she also said the Jammu Bar Association president threatened her to stay away from the case, adding that her life was in danger. She approached the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the Supreme Court and earned a directive to ensure her safety in court premises. The case gained national attention after arrests triggered protests supporting the accused. One of the protests was attended by two BJP ministers, who had to resign later.