(Image source from: Is India getting indifferent towards rape?})

Perturbed by the spiralling cases of rape in the country? Don't be. The 74-year-old acting governor of Uttar Pradesh, Aziz Quereshi, whose lone mission in life is to "wipe out every tear from each eye ..... to serve suffering humanity", explains how we can stay complacent and comfortably numb even amid the rising horror.

Vindicating the act, the grand old man of Congress said that even the entire police force cannot stop the act of rape. "Only god can stop rapes in the country," Qureshi announced grandly.

The grotesque explanation is inarguably offensive, but not for people like Samajwadi Party honcho Mulayam Singh Yadav for whom such comments are heaven-sent. Just last week, Yadav boldly asserted that his state, with a population of 21 crore, has the lowest number of rapes in the country. In a way, he is right — the huge population masks the numbers and you don't reed to be a rocket scientist to understand that.

However, the truth stands in dark contrast to Mulayam's claims. The 2013 National Crime Records Bureau data reveals that eight rapes happen per day in the state. And then there are several others that goes unreported or thanks to poor probe, gets shut.

For example, take the spine-chilling case of Badaun rape: On May 27, two young girls who went missing a day earlier were found "raped" and murdered. Their bodies were found hanging from a tree.

Initially, the police confirmed it as rape and detained three Yadav men. However, after a few days, the state's top cop rolled back their stance saying that one of the girls was not raped and it seemed to be a case of honor killing. A second autopsy was ordered. However, on July 21, the CBI called it off since exhuming the body was no longer possible as the bodies were were found submerged in Ganga water.

While Badaun rape case created a huge hullabaloo, with photos of the bodies hanging from the tree shared and circulated on social networking sites, its brutality failed to galvanize the public unlike the December 16 gang-rape in Delhi and even the ongoing protests in Bangalore over the alleged rape of a six-year-old school girl.

Badaun case too reached a dead end without any justice for the girl, blame it on the shoddy investigation and lack of enough public zap on the matter.

Wonder how peoples reaction on Badaun case be any different from December 16 Delhi rape case when on brutality meter both the cases stands at par. The sheer lack of interest on rapes and attacks happening against women in far-flung areas of the country is absolutely galling.

Or could one relate the indifference to UP and the northern states where atrocities against women are a way of life. Such conclusions only get more tenacious when leaders like Aziz Quereshi sounds off thoughtless comments on rape and over the past few months, we have had plenty of them coming from UP.

Such apathy perhaps stems from people's attitude, who don't care as long as it isn't happening in their backyard. Sad!

AW: Suchorita Choudhury