Two rape cases - one of them involving a powerful lawmaker - in Indian states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have again turned the spotlight on the plight of young, defenceless victims.
An eight-year-old girl from a Sunni Muslim nomadic tribe of shepherds was the victim in the more brutal and shocking case, in volatile Jammu and Kashmir state.
A group of lawyers this week unsuccessfully tried to block police efforts to file evidence and findings of an investigation in court against those accused of raping the girl who went missing in January.
Police said she was confined in a Hindu prayer hall by former revenue official Sanji Ram for seven days, and repeatedly raped. Her body was recovered in the forest a week after she was reported missing on Jan 17. She was strangled and then bashed on the head with a stone.
The motive, according to police, was to chase away her nomadic community from the predominantly Hindu village. Eight people were arrested in connection with the case, including a policeman who allegedly also took part in the rape and took hush money.
Since the arrests, a Hindu right-wing nationalist organisation which supports the BJP, the Hindu Ekta Manch, has staged a protest seeking the release of those detained, but in the face of an uproar demanded instead a federal investigation into the case. Two BJP state ministers took part in the protest.
As Indian media uncovered details of the girl's rape, shocked reactions came in from the BJP and opposition parties.
"She will not be denied justice," tweeted minister of state for external affairs V K Singh who is from the BJP. Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "What have we become if we allow politics to interfere with such unimaginable brutality perpetrated on an innocent child?"
Meanwhile, police in Uttar Pradesh state yesterday began investigating powerful BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who along with several others is accused of raping a 16-year-old girl last June.
Investigations got under way only after the state's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, under pressure from the opposition, ordered an inquiry on Wednesday and transferred the case to federal investigators.
The victim tried to burn herself to death in Lucknow, the state capital, on Sunday because of the the failure of police to immediately register a case. It came to public attention after her father died in police custody. He was arrested for fighting with supporters of his daughter's alleged attacker.
Social activists said both rapes revealed the deep-seated problem of crimes against women in India.
"I think that we are struggling with a rape culture. This is the lowest in any country's political history. Politicians are protesting for the accused. And how will citizens of this country ever believe in the law when lawyers are protesting for the accused in the rape of an eight-year-old? They are bent on making it a Hindu-Muslim issue," said Dr Ranjana Kumari, director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Social Research.
There was also outrage on social media over the two cases and protests took place in Delhi yesterday.
The brutal rape of a physiotherapy student in a bus in Delhi, the capital, in 2012 triggered street protests and eventually forced the government to change laws, which included the introduction of the death penalty for serial rapists. The victim in that case died of her injuries in a Singapore hospital.
