Academicians from across globe write to PM, express anguish over Kathua, Unnao rape cases

Over 600 academicians and scholars from across the globe have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing their anguish over the Kathua and Unnao rape cases, and accused him of maintaining "prolonged silence" over the "terrible state of affairs" in the country.

The letter comes on a day the Union Cabinet approved an ordinance to provide stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of rape of girls below 12 years, amid a nation-wide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors in Kathua and Surat, and the rape of a girl in Unnao.

"We wish to express our deep anger and anguish over the events in Kathua and Unnao and the aftermath of these events; over the efforts of those administrating the relevant states to protect the alleged perpetrators of these monstrous crimes; over the subsequent profoundly distasteful efforts of rationalisation and the deflection and diversion that have been so much in evidence in the reactions of your party's spokespersons in the media," the letter to the prime minister read.

"We have observed that there has been a prolonged silence on your part over the 'terrible state of affairs' in the country and 'an undeniable association of violence with the ruling dispensation'," it added.

The signatories to the letter include academicians and scholars from varsities across the globe including New York university, Brown University, Harvard and Columbia, and the IITs, among others.