Delhi Dalit girl case: In their desperation to paint ‘upper-caste Brahmin priest’ as villain, they forgot Salim

Crime, confusion and clashes. There has been absolutely no change in the left ecosystem’s template to give a communal colour to heinous crimes. 

Once again, in their desperation to turn a gruesome act of rape into a communal and casteist crime, the left has conveniently blacked out the name of an accused belonging to a “favourable minority”.

The alleged rape-murder of a 9-year-old Dalit girl

A 9-year-old Dalit girl of Southwest Delhi’s Old Nangal Village allegedly died under mysterious circumstances on Sunday evening. Reports suggest that the girl who lived opposite a crematorium had gone to get cold water from the crematorium’s water cooler at 5:30 pm. About half an hour later, the crematorium’s priest Radhey Shyam (55) and three workers Kuldeep Kumar (63), Laxmi Narain (48) and Mohd Salim (49), known to the family rushed to her home. 

They informed the girl’s parents that the minor got electrocuted while taking water from the cooler and lost her life. The girl’s mother who rushed to the spot claimed that the four (now accused and arrested) dissuaded her from filing a police complaint and urged her to complete the cremation. 

The mother, however, cried foul and gathered around 200 villagers for forcefully cremating her daughter. The Delhi Police arrived at the location at 10:30 pm on Sunday and took the accused into custody.

ANI on Tuesday quoted DCP Ingit Pratap Singh as saying that basis the mother’s complaint, a case of rape had been registered. He also informed the POCSO Act, SC/ST Act & other relevant sections were added after the deceased’s mother alleged that her daughter was raped and casteist slurs were hurled at them.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1422452324321021956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

While the accused are under arrest and an investigation is on, the cause of death has not yet been determined.

The toolkit of villainization

On Wednesday, the entire opposition created an uproar demanding justice. From Rahul Gandhi rushing to meet the parents of the deceased to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanding capital punishment for the rape-accused, the case details have been missed completely. 

However, as ‘old habits die hard’, the left ecosystem once again pontified selectivity while talking of the accused. One of the accused- a Brahmin priest has been singled out by the left to give a crime under investigation a communal colour, thereby, creating disharmony. 

Leading the communal propaganda from the front is “award-winning” journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani. 

Sherwani took to Twitter to assert that the only accused in the case is a Brahmin while missing out on the names of three others. “9 year old Dalit girl allegedly gang-raped, murdered and forcibly cremated at Delhi Cantt crematorium. The accused is said to be an upper caste Pujari. The sheer absence of outrage on my timeline gives away the story. Now tell me again we aren’t a Casteist society?” selectively Tweeted Arfa. 

Screenshot of Arfa’s Tweet

However, here’s the thing. Arfa has not only forgotten that there are four accused, she also skipped the detail that while one of them is indeed an upper caste pujari, another is one Mohammad Salim, who is one of her coreligionists.

The buck doesn’t stop there. Here is her own tweet from November 2019, soon after the brutal murder and rape of a Hyderabad girl wherein one of the accused was also one Muhammad Ali who allegedly suffocated the girl to her death.

Arfa’s tweet from November 2019

What is good for the goose should be good for the gander, but not when it comes to The Wire journalist. ‘Upper caste Pujari’ must be singled out (even if other accused is one Salim), but Mohammad Ali should not be. In her own words, she is not friend, but enemy of women.

Similarly, self-declared transparency activist and Congress fan Saket Gokhale Tweeted, “Shameful to see how Noida media is utterly silent on the rape & murder of the 9-year-old Dalit child in Delhi. Of course, not surprising because the Delhi Police comes under Amit Shah & his boi Rakesh Asthana. And then of course – the main accused is allegedly a Hindoo priest.”

Screenshot of Saket Gokhale’s Tweet

Embarrassing how a ‘transparency activist’ has blurred out facts to suit his narrative. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Gokhale’s false statement has not yet invited any official complaint against him.

Leftist propaganda outlet Newslaundry employee too made sure to highlight ‘priest’ in his Tweet while sharing an article. “9 yo Dalit girl was gang-raped, murdered and forcibly cremated in Delhi Cantt area. 4 men, including a priest, have been arrested for this horrible crime,” his Tweet read.

Screenshot of Meghnad’s Tweet

Andolanjeevi Kavita Krishnan was not far behind. “#Hathras now repeated in #Delhi. Support the ongoing struggle for justice for this child, raped and killed by a priest who then burnt her body in a crematorium to destroy evidence,” she Tweeted with no piece of evidence to support her claim. 

Screenshot of Kavita’s Tweet

Columnist and author Tavleen Singh too shared her two cents. “A 55-year-old priest participates in the gang rape and murder of a nine-year-old Dalit girl in Delhi. Does it not make headlines because of her caste or because we have become immune?” Tavleen Tweeted oblivious to the media coverage and case proceedings. 

Screenshot of Tavleen’s Tweet

Tavleen was claiming that the news did not make headlines even as all opposition politicians had made a beeline to meet the victim’s families and everything was being telecast live on television screens.

Name dictates narratives

The state of Rajasthan is topping the charts when it comes to crime against women. As per a report, a 30% increase in rape cases has been reported in the last 6 months in the state. What is surprising is neither Congress nor the left cabal thought of raising their voice or visiting the victims from these states.

However, what is not surprising is their selective outrage after vetting the name of the accused. Showing no sympathy or empathy towards the victim, the entire ecosystem has pinned down one of the accused because of his caste.

Deja vu? In a similar deplorable instance, the very same elite club discarded the ill-fate of the Kathua rape victim while harping upon crime being committed in a ‘devisthan‘. When the little girl in Kathua was raped and murdered, everyone suddenly felt ashamed as a Hindu because the heinous crime allegedly took place inside a temple.

If a crime takes place in name of Allah (example: Terrorist chants Allahu Akbar before blowing himself up), then terrorism has no religion. But if a man raping or murdering a child happens to be an ‘upper caste priest’, it is suddenly all about the caste and religious identity of the accused.

This just shows that these ‘concerned citizens’ and politicians are not really concerned about the crime. Not that a little girl lost her life, but they just want to further a narrative that paints a ‘Hindu priest’ in bad light probably because ‘Salims’ are already bad, eh?