-Frontline There is growing violence against women and children in Haryana, aided by the apparent collusion between the State government and the upper-caste-dominated khap panchayats. THE road leading to Dabra village in Haryana’s Hisar district is not very difficult to locate. It was at Dabra, a mere 15 kilometres from the district headquarters, that a heinous crime was committed on September 9. It would have gone unnoticed had it not been accompanied...

-The New York Times Dabra: One after the other, the men raped her. They had dragged the girl into a darkened stone shelter at the edge of the fields, eight men, maybe more, reeking of pesticide and cheap whiskey. They assaulted her for nearly three hours. She was 16 years old. When it was over, the men threatened to kill her if she told anyone, and for days the girl said nothing....

-CNN-IBN When I was asked to travel to Haryana for a ground report on the sudden spurt in the number of rape cases being reported from the state, I frankly didn't think the story was worth much. The number stood at eight rapes in about 25 days...eight was just a figure, a number, a statistic...I didn't see a story, I didn't see the trauma, I didn't see the pain. The night...

-The Indian Express Chandigarh: Less than a week after Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited Jind in Haryana to visit the family of a rape victim, 30 MPs will be in Jind and Kaithal on October 17 to meet the families of Dalit rape victims. The gravity of the situation notwithstanding, the state government seems to have chosen this opportunity to impress the visiting MPs with its hospitality. Among the various duties assigned...

-The Times of India The true worth of a modern nation lies in its treatment of women and children. Sadly, India still has a long way to go before it can measure up to such standards. The spate of recent rapes in Haryana of at least 15 women, including dalit teenage girls, has renewed focus on the inefficacy of the law and order machinery. In place of a policy of zero...