In the wake of the gruesome rape and murder of 8-year-old Asifa Bano in Kathua, and the Unnao rape case, online advocacy platform CrowdNewsing has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the families of both victims.
The campaign, which was launched on Friday has raised over 35 lakh rupees, from contributors across India, surpassing its initial goal.
“Beyond the outrage and holding of placards on streets, families of both the victims, are in need of financial help, and that’s the reason, why we decided to launch the campaign,” says Bilal Zaidi, Founder & Community Coordinator at CrowdNewsing.
The campaign, Bilal says, was launched in two phases. In the first phase, they raised 10 lakh rupees for Asifa’s family. And then they raised another 10 lakh rupees for the family of the Unnao rape survivor.
The campaign reached its initial goal, in less than two days from the start of the campaign.
“We had shut down the campaign, after raising 20 lakh rupees. But because more and more people started writing to us, that they wanted to donate too, we decided to open the campaign again,” says Bilal.
On January 10, 8-year-old Asifa Bano, was abducted by a group of six men, who sedated and raped her inside a temple. She was assaulted repeatedly by the men, including two police officers. She was later strangulated and was gang raped once again, before her head was smashed with a stone.
In the case of Unnao, a family of a minor Dalit girl, was allegedly raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his companions in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district. The case came to light in April, this month, when the victim and her family tried to immolate herself outside Chief Minister Adityanath’s residence, alleging police inaction against the accused.
The family alleged that they were thrashed by the police, after they filed a complaint. The victim’s father died in judicial custody a day later.
The amount raised from the crowdfunding campaign will be distributed equally between the two families. Besides supporting the families, the campaign also aims to support the lawyers of the victims.
To send your donations to Asifa’s and the Unnao survivor’s families, please visit: http://contribute.crowdnewsing.com/fundraiser/justiceforashifa
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Shaik Zakeer Hussain is the Founder and Editor of The Cognate.
