The story of a young woman in India who was raped by a politician, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, is featured in this excerpt from “India’s Rape Scandal.” “If you raise a voice, I will murder you,” she says he told her.
Hers is one in a wave of shocking rape cases in India — some of them drawing in politicians from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP — that have been accompanied by allegations of cover-ups, despite the fact that the government has vowed zero tolerance for sexual assault.
“Her allegation is that she tried to get a complaint registered against Kuldeep Sengar, but his name was repeatedly dropped out of the charge sheet and the complaint,” Aishwarya S. Iyer, a journalist for The Quint who has reported extensively on the case, says in the above excerpt. (The state’s chief minister publicly rejected criticisms that Sengar had been protected.)
As the documentary goes on to explore, Jaya did not give up calling for Sengar to be held accountable — even after her father was killed, followed by her lawyer and two aunts.
“It’s incredible how strong-willed this woman is,” Iyer says in the film. “To see death so close, to see your family being consumed by a complaint that you are raising and to still be at it. … It’s a stunning, stunning story.”
Although Sengar is now in prison for the young woman’s rape and his role in her father’s death, he still has a loyal following, the documentary reports.
For the full story, watch “India’s Rape Scandal” July 20 on FRONTLINE: https://to.pbs.org/3hQy2G0
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