Balrampur: In a chilling reminder of how unsafe Uttar Pradesh’s streets can be, a deaf and mute woman was allegedly kidnapped and gangraped just a stone’s throw from the residences of Balrampur’s top police and administrative officials — in an area touted to be under round-the-clock electronic watch. The twist? Several CCTV cameras installed under the state’s much-hyped “Operation Trinetra” were switched off when the crime unfolded.
The 21-year-old was returning from her maternal uncle’s home when two bike-borne men allegedly waylaid her on a deserted stretch, dragged her to a nearby field, and took turns raping her. Unable to shout for help, she lay in the field until her worried family, who had started searching when she did not return for over an hour, found her in a traumatised state near a police outpost. She is recovering at the district women’s hospital.
Within 24 hours, police claimed a breakthrough, arresting the accused — Ankur Verma and Harshit Pandey — after an encounter in which both suffered bullet injuries. “We traced them through available CCTV footage and other leads. They have confessed to the crime,” Superintendent of Police Vikash Kumar told reporters.
But it is the political fallout that has set social media ablaze. The All India Trinamool Congress posted the disturbing visuals from a working CCTV camera outside the SP’s residence — a 14-second clip showing the victim sprinting for her life as the two men pursue her on a bike, with no one stepping in. The party blasted the Yogi Adityanath government’s law-and-order claims, calling Uttar Pradesh a “graveyard for women” and accusing the BJP’s “Double Engine” model of protecting criminals rather than victims.
“How dare the BJP lecture Bengal on women’s safety when its own backyard is soaked in blood?” the post read, accusing the police of being “asleep or complicit.”
The incident has also triggered serious questions over the reliability of Operation Trinetra — the surveillance grid meant to deter crimes and aid rapid police response. The victim’s family says three to four cameras in the area, including some near the SP’s residence, were dead at the time of the attack. Ironically, the lone camera that worked provided the only footage crucial to cracking the case.
As Balrampur reels from the brutality, the larger question looms — what good is a surveillance state if its eyes are shut when a life is on the line?
