Over 30 feminist groups in the UK and many other diaspora organisations, along with MPs John McDonnell, Apsana Begum, and Kim Johnson, have written to UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet asking her to:

• Urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dismiss Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
• Set up an international enquiry into the Hathras rape case and other rapes and crimes against women, particularly oppressed caste women in UP since the Adityanath government came to power in the state.

FULL TEXT OF LETTER AND SIGNATORIES ARE BELOW:

To the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet

Dear Ms Bachelet

We are writing to you to express our deep sense of shock and dismay at the terrible events unfolding in Uttar Pradesh, India and to urge you to take action as outlined below.

Recent events

On 14th September a 19-year-old Dalit woman was gang-raped and assaulted with inhuman violence in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Her spine was broken, paralysing all her limbs, her body grievously bruised and her tongue was brutally wounded. The four men who had raped and assaulted her were oppressor caste Thakurs who dominated the village she lived in – a place which continues to practice ‘untouchability’. They had allegedly been ruthlessly harassing her for a considerable length of time, to the extent that she was afraid of leaving her home. But worse was to come. The UP police, initially reluctant to register a case against the four accused, left her lying on the concrete floor of the police station and when she was eventually taken to a hospital she was left in a generic ward. Only after pressure built up was she transferred to the ICU and later to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where she passed away on 29th September.

But even this scale of cruelty was not enough for the police and administration of UP and the local government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath which gives them their orders. On the night of 30th September, they took away her dead body. Her mother’s pleas to be allowed one last look at her were ignored. Then, barricading her family in their house so they could not attend or perform funeral rites, the police forcibly and hurriedly cremated her body at 2:30 am to erase all evidence in the case.

Not isolated events

What is most shocking is that far from being an isolated crime, this is part of a systematic attack on women and oppressed castes. Three other sexual assaults and deaths of women and girls took place in UP hardly 24 hours after the Hathras victim’s remains had been consigned to flames by the UP police. In Balrampur a 22-year-old Dalit woman was raped and murdered. In Bhadohi, a 14-year-old Dalit girl was found dead, her face disfigured and head battered – rape is suspected – and in Azamgarh an 8-year-old girl was raped.

While attacks on Dalits and women have escalated vastly all over India since 2014, when the Hindu-supremacist Modi regime with its entrenched Casteist and misogynist ideology came to power, the Adityanath government in UP has seen by far the largest number of attacks and atrocities.

For example, in 2019, India reported 4,05,861 cases of crimes against women with Uttar Pradesh topping the list with 59,853 such incidents, according to India’s annual National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime in India” 2019 report. As for the atrocities against Dalits and other oppressed castes, they too have escalated vastly and oppressor castes have been allowed to act with total impunity. For example, according to the National Crime Record Bureau figures, in 2016, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of atrocities against Dalits – 26% of all cases reported.

We are deeply concerned about where this is leading India and more specifically the state of Uttar Pradesh.

We hope you are able to take action:

• Urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dismiss Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
• Set up an international enquiry into the Hathras rape case and other rapes and crimes against women, particularly oppressed caste women in UP since the Adityanath government came to power in the state.

Signed:

Satpal Muman, Chair, CasteWatch UK

Sarbjit Johal, South Asia Solidarity Group

Daljit Gill, National Valmiki Sabha, NRI UK

John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington

Apsana Begum, MP for Poplar and Limehouse

Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South

Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Streatham

Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree

Anjum Mouj, Chair, London Black Women’s Project

Ananya Wilson Bhattacharya, Red Pepper

Sabrina Qureshi, Million Women Rise

Mohammed Sagheer, Chair, Strive UK

Baljit Banga, Director, Imkaan

Meena Varma, Dalit Solidarity Network-UK

Dharam Paul Nahar, Bhagwan Balmiki Trust, UK

Meril Eshun-Parker, Director, London Black Women’s Project

Zlakha Ahmed, Director, Apna Haq, Rotherham

Shamsuddin Agha, Chair, Indian Muslim Federation UK

Alderman Bishan Dass Bains (former Mayor of Wolverhampton)

Ngozi Fulani, Sistah Space

Alice Robson, Feminist Fightback

Harjit Marwaha, Ambedkar United Front International

Firoza Mohmed, CEO, Humraaz

Dion Spence, Membership & Sustainability Manager, Imkaan

Sofia Karim, Turbine Bagh, London

Anjona Roy, Chair, Dostiyo Asian Women’s Organisation, Northampton

Mohammed Shajin, East-Midlands Malayalee Muslim Association (EMMMA)

Janet Campbell, Chair, Claudia Jones Organisation

Yenny Tovar, Executive Director,Latin American Women’s Aid

Nishma Jethwa, Co-Founder & Director, The Rights Collective

Yasmin Khan, CEO, The Halo Project

Rahni Kaur Binjie, Development & Sustainability Coordinator, Imkaan

Marissa Begonia, Voice of Domestic Workers

Gisela Valle, Director, Latin American Women’s Resource Services

Benaifer Bhandari, CEO, Hopscotch Asian Women’s Centre

Sawsan Salim, Director, Kurdish and Middle Eastern Women Organisation in UK

Dr. Dania Thomas, Chair, Board of Trustees, Ubuntu Women Shelter

Gabriela Quevedo, Director for Advocacy and Influencing, Latin American Women’s Aid

Senay Dur, Director, IMECE Women’s Centre

Surinder Guru, Birmingham Black Sisters

Sirita Kaur, Support and Development Officer, Kiran Support Services

Joyce Simon, Manager, Anah Project

Gona Saed, Sustainability and Development Manager, Kurdish and Middle Eastern Women Organisation UK

Pamela Hudson, Women & Families GBV Specialist Worker,Claudia Jones Organisation

Diana Nammi, Executive Director, IKWRO, Women’s Rights Organisation

Ann Mills, Director, Niara

Vandana Aparanti, Domestic Violence Caseworker, Asian Women’s Resource Centre

Uma Shanika, Tamil Women’s Gathering Europe (Pengal Santhipan)

Parvinder Aujla, Children’s Support Worker, Kiran Support Services

Umme Imam, Executive Director, The Angelou Centre

Sarbjit Ganger, Director, Asian Women’s Resource Centre

Maira Butt, Chairperson, Humraaz

Mohini Howard, Women 2Gether

Amrita Kaur, Outreach Worker, Kiran Support Services

Adrija Dey, SOAS India Society

Ambedkar Memorial Committee GB

Global Ambedkarites online portal

Castout Castes, online blog

Kanshi Radio Ltd

Shri Guru Ravidass Temple, Wolverhampton

Ambedkar International Mission, London

Ambedkar International Mission, Canada

Ambedkar International Mission, France

Ambedkar International Mission, Japan

Ambedkar International Mission, Brunei

Ambedkar International Mission, Australia

Ambedkar International Mission, Malaysia

Ambedkar International Mission, Oman

Ambedkar International Mission, UAE

Ambedkar International Mission, Bahrain

Ambedkar International Mission, Iran

Valmiki Sabha International (UK)

Ealing Labour Women’s Forum

WE (Women Empowerment) Sri Lanka