FROM UNNAO TO DHARMASHTHALA: WHY INDIA’S CONSCIENCE STOPS AT POWER

 India does react to injustice. The public outrage over the Unnao rape and murder case proved that. The anger was loud. The pressure was real. Institutions were forced to move. That response was necessary and welcome.

But it also exposed a troubling truth.

The same India remains largely silent when similar, and in many cases more disturbing, allegations emerge from Dharmasthala. Rapes. Murders. Disappearances. Documented complaints. Yet no national outrage. No sustained media pressure. No urgency in power corridors.

This contrast cannot be explained away.

Activist Girish Mattannavar has rightly pointed this out. His argument is simple. Crimes trigger outrage only when the accused are weak or expendable. When allegations touch a powerful, wealthy, shrine-centric family network—often described as the “Dharmasthala republic”—the system freezes.

The Special Investigation Team formed by the state government was expected to change this. Instead, it has deepened doubts. The accused remain untouched. They are not summoned. They are not questioned. They continue their lives as before. In contrast, complainants, whistle-blowers, and activists are repeatedly called in. They are pressured. They are intimidated. They are pushed to contradict themselves.

This is not a procedural lapse. It is a clear pattern.

Civil society has raised its voice. Women’s organisations jointly asked a simple question: “Kondavaru yaaru?” Who are the killers? It was a powerful moment. But nothing followed. No arrests. No breakthrough. No accountability. Everything remains where it was.

That is because protests alone cannot crack a protected structure. When the state itself is not decided to punish the real offenders, inquiries become rituals. Committees become shields. Time becomes the weapon.

What makes Dharmasthala especially difficult is the nature of power involved. This is not just money or political reach. It is religious authority. It is social control. Questioning the accused is framed as an attack on tradition. Accountability is portrayed as disruption. Fear replaces law.

This double standard should worry everyone. Justice cannot depend on where a crime occurs or who stands accused. A society that reacts strongly in Unnao but falls silent in Dharmasthala is not being fair. It is being selective. It is hypocrite.

When truth-tellers are hunted and the accused are protected, the message is unmistakable. Some victims matter. Others do not.

History will remember not only the crimes. It will remember the silence that allowed them to continue.

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