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CRIMES

team has been dominated by play- screwdriver and scissors, before stab- work. He had covered his face when he
ers from Haryana, particularly from a bing her to death. The police said that forced his entry into the house, blind-
hockey nursery in Shahbad Markanda it was a case of one-sided obsession folded her and began to unclothe her.
town. Be it captain Mamta Kharab or as the girl had declined his offer and The CCTV camera installed inside the
players like Suman Bala, Jasjeet Kaur, there was no evidence of any kind of house showed how she fought him
Surinder Kaur, Pritam Rani and Sita telephonic contact between the two. fiercely though he held her by the hair
Gussain — all hail from Haryana. Ace At the time of the crime, the victim was and pushed her head into the wall.
international badminton player Sai- alone at home as her school teacher The shackles of bigotry, the gender
na Nehwal too has her family roots father and lecturer mother gone to bias and mindset continue to bind the
in Haryana. In 1997, Haryana-born state to a level that eclipses the achieve-
astronaut Kalpana Chawla from Karnal ments attained. The gruesome murder
took the state to unprecedented heights of the young national-level taekwondo
when she went on a NASA space mis- The player’s gruesome player, Sarita and similar incidents
sion. She went on another mission in murder is not the are symptomatic of the problems that
2003 and met with a tragic end when plague our deeply patriarchal society.
the spacecraft disintegrated on its solitary example of Till boys are taught by their mothers,
return journey. Haryana, the state its kind in Haryana. fathers and teachers to be sensitive
known for being the nursery of power about the consent of a prospective part-
women, prides itself for every glory Earlier, an aspiring ner in a relationship, they will find it dif-
earned by its talented women. ficult to take no for a proposal and turn
Sarita’s gruesome murder is not doctor was killed on violent, as in the present case. It’s equal-
the solitary example of crime against May 17 by her alleged ly important that the police take im-
women in Haryana. Earlier, an 18-year- mediate note of complaints of women
old girl and an aspiring doctor was stalker. Such incidents feeling threatened. Had they listened to
killed on May 17 by her alleged stalker are symptomatic of the Sarita’s pleas and acted swiftly, she may
in Faridabad. According to the police have been alive today. When will the
the stalker, unclothed the teenager problems that plague authorities wake from their slumber?
and grabbed her by the hair to bash her our patriarchal society
head into the wall, tortured her with a LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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