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Sometimes some incidents do make us ask ourselves, “Are we really in the 21st century?” One such instance shocked us recently.
Shalini Sharma, a 23 year old girl from Madhya Pradesh sought asylum in Tamil Nadu after fleeing from her stepmother Sudha, who was about to offer her as a human sacrifice in a bizarre ritual. The merciless stepmother had already killed Shalini’s brother in a human sacrifice when he was 10 years old. The wicked woman is a proponent of black magic. She had planned to kill Shalini too in a similar ritual. Shalini fled her home and came to Tamil Nadu since she believed that this State is the safest place for womenfolk.
Shalini studied post-graduation course in Bhopal.Her family had forced her to join Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a students’ forum founded by the RSS. It is the student wing of the BJP. Her father had retired in 2017 after serving the Agricultural Department in Madhya Pradesh. The family had migrated from Uttar Pradesh where Shalini was born.
Shalini took shelter in the house of a well wisher in Chennai. She feared her stepmother would come and forcibly take her to Bhopal and conduct the ritual of human sacrifice by killing her. She moved the Madras High Court seeking protection. Her plea was taken up for hearing on Thursday, 23rd February 2023. Shalini appeared before Justice Chandrasekharan. She said that her parents were politically well connected in Madhya Pradesh and that she has come to Tamil Nadu in order to seek refuge. Her friends had helped her to file the affidavit.
Justice Chandrasekharan has ordered to send notices, returnable in three weeks, to the petitioner Shalini’s parents as well as to the Commissioner of Police, Bhopal. The Tamil Nadu State Public Prosecutor has assured safety of Shalini. The judge asked him to file a status report after three weeks.
Shalini told the press reporters in Chennai that Tamil Nadu is a haven of peace and protection for women in distress. This incident proves that blind faith, superstitions and bizarre rituals of sorcery and black magic are found in a large scale in several Northern States including Madhya Pradesh which is under the rule of the BJP.
Shalini has further said that the police department of Madhya Pradesh had refused to register her complaint, as her stepmother Sudha Sharma plays a vital role in the RSS. She said, some members of the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP, have already arrived at Chennai to hunt and capture her.
It is shocking to hear about such atrocities in Madhya Pradesh, while the condition is far better in Southern States. This cannot be treated as a case of superstition of just one individual. It reveals the repressive outlook of the RSS in the matters of womenfolk. Human sacrifice is undeniably barbaric. It must be uprooted and annihilated by collective efforts of all humanists. Every outdated concept should be thrown overboard. Blind faith and superstitions are against human civilisation.
