Patan Rape: As usual political connections.......

"Beasts preying on students for 10 yrs"- THE TIMES OF INDIA
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“Written laws are like spider's webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and the poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful."-- Anacharsis quotes (Scythian prince and philosopher, 6th century BC)
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This was a sex den, just like the one in Nithari. Nobody outside knew what was happening inside the Primary Teacher's Training College (PTC) in Patan for 10 years.

How was the hush-up achieved? Political connections.

Their teachers were looking at them as prospective prey - girls they could get into bed on the sheer power derived out of their control over the internal marks in examinations.

A GCERT commission had advised that internal assessmant marks be reduced form 40% to 15% of the total to reduce chances of wrongdoings by teachers. The education ministry, then headed by Anandiben Patel had just sat on the recommendation.

It took one victim's extremely traumatised condition to bring this shocking incident to the public domain. The focus is right now on six teachers arrested by the police, but the dragnet could be cast wide if the government is really interested in getting to the bottom of the incident.

Seems unlikely as that would mean many big heads in the Gujarat government would have to roll.

From accounts coming out of the campus, it appears that the rapists used to choose girls from poor background and lower castes to prey upon.

Gujarat will be called truly great when the weakest and poorest of its citizens are protected and nurtured.

The students could not protest because their parents had worked hard to send them to the college. If they had told their parents that they were regularly getting raped by their teachers, their parents would have pulled them out of the college and asked them to keep mum, lest it hamper their marriage prospects.
In the main victim's case, the father belongs to the lowest of the low castes and hails from a village near Visnagar. His wife and he earn around Rs 50 a day as farm labourers. The victim has two sisters - both married - and are at present in their parents' home as they are pregnant.

This would churn the strongest of stomachs.

Again, this can't be an isolated incident. After the government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the case on Tuesday, the danger is that it may remain restricted to Patan. There could be many more Patans waiting to explode in the government's face if corrective measures are not taken.

That is what I am saying.

The larger conspiracy needs to be unearthed. For most of these 10 years, it was the supposedly efficient and head strong Anandiben Patel - present revenue minister and Patan MLA - who was in control of the education department, which ensured only male teachers ruled PTC, Patan.

She should resign from the governemnt.



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