ASHA – A India-based Rural Charity Aid Group Empowering Women
Muzaffarnagar, a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh remained tense Wednesday as a 40-year-old Hindu mother of 3 and ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker was allegedly raped by a 20-year-old last week named Shaheed, committed suicide after a video of the incident was circulated on WhatsApp by the accused. ASHA is an Indian-based not-for-profit organization that is known for focusing on rural areas as well as empowering women.
A fellow ASHA worker, who did not wish to be named, said the woman first met the accused, Shaheed, when she visited his house three months ago while his sister-in-law was giving birth. According to the health worker, from that point on, the accused used to “block her way in the village and made advances at her”.
Muzaffarnagar MP and Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan visited the woman’s family in Chhapra in the evening, following which her body was cremated as per Hindu tradition. The district administration has given s compensation of Rs 30,000 to the family, but the state government has promised more as the woman ran the house with 3 children.
Muzaffarnagar Superintendent of Police Constable Gupta said he accused was arrested Tuesday night and, during initial interrogation, he admitted to raping the victim as well as circulating the video clip. Shaheed’s rape and confession has caused communal tension in the village between Hindus and Muslim communities. There have been reports that some local Muslims have been praising the rape on the Hindu women as she was a kafir (term used to define non-muslims). Some regional political parties have also used the situation to politicize the growing trend of Islamist extremism in the area. In 2013, intelligence reports have stated communication between some Islamic extremist youth in the region and a banned Pakistan-based Islamist terror group, with the intent in planning some local terror attacks.
The ASHA aid worker and rape victim killed herself on Tuesday after visiting a local dispensary to get medicine for her 16-year-old son. Later, a call on his father’s phone informed them that she had consumed poison near the marketplace. The ASHA worker who knew the woman claimed that after the alleged rape, she is said to have gone in a blank and scared shock.
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