UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has condemned the rape and murder of two Dalit girls in India, terming the incident a horrendous crime and stressing that all citizens should be protected by law.

“The rape and death of the two girls, who were hanged from a tree, is a horrendous crime. There are some incidents (for which) words are difficult to choose. It was clearly a horrendous incident,” the UN secretary general’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujjaric, said in response to a question at a media briefing on Friday.

Asked about the caste system in India which has been a factor in such attacks, he said: “We’ve seen the harm that traditional practices can do against women, and whatever the reason is, we’ve seen the results and it needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”

Referring to the recent killing of three women in California in a shooting spree by a 22-year-old man who was frustrated over being rejected by women and to the killing in Pakistan of a pregnant woman who was stoned to death for marrying the man of her choice, Mr Dujjaric said all the incidents “clearly targeted women”.

He said that UN chief Ban Ki-moon had spoken out forcefully against violence targeting women and had “encouraged all those who can do something about it to do so”. The UN chief had started a campaign a few years ago to encourage men to oppose violence against women, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2014