印度八歲女孩遭奸殺引發(fā)宗教之爭

NEW DELHI — In early January, Asifa Bano, an 8-year-old girl in a purple dress, was grazing her horses in a meadow in northern India. A man beckoned her into a forest. She followed.

新德里——在一月初，八歲女孩阿西法·巴諾(Asifa Bano)正穿著一條紫色連衣裙，在印度北部的一片草地上放牧馬匹。一個男人示意她往森林里走。她跟去了。

According to police, he grabbed her by the neck and forced her to take sleeping pills. With the help of a friend, they say, he dragged her to a nearby temple and locked her inside.

按照警方的說法，他抓住她的脖子并逼她吃下了安眠藥。他們說，在一個朋友的幫助下，他把她拖到了附近的一個寺廟并把她鎖在了里面。

For the next three days, police say, the two men and at least one other raped her, again and again. They told investigators that their motive had been to drive Asifa’s nomadic community out of the area. In the end, she was strangled, after one of the men allegedly insisted on raping her one last time.

警方稱，在接下來的三天里，這兩名男子和至少另外一人，一次又一次地強奸她。他們告訴調(diào)查人員，他們的動機是想把阿西法的游牧部落趕出這片地區(qū)。最終，據(jù)稱在其中一名男子堅持進行最后一次強奸之后，她被勒死了。

Days later, Asifa’s crumpled body was found in the forest, in the same purple dress, now smeared with blood.

幾天后，人們在這片森林中發(fā)現(xiàn)了阿西法遭到蹂躪的身軀，她身上那條紫色連衣裙，現(xiàn)在沾滿了血跡。

Eight men have been arrested in connection with the case, and several have confessed, according to police in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the killing took place. Two of the accused are police officers said to have accepted thousands of dollars to cover up the crime. One of the arrested suspects said he was 15, though police officers, based on a medical examination, believe he is at least 19.

據(jù)案發(fā)地查謨-克什米爾邦的警方稱，八名與本案有關(guān)的男子被捕，其中幾人已經(jīng)認罪。有兩名被告據(jù)說是收了數(shù)千美元后協(xié)助掩蓋罪行的警察。其中一名被捕嫌犯稱自己15歲，但警察根據(jù)醫(yī)學檢查，認為他至少有19歲。

It seemed another isolated, horrific episode of sexual violence in India, perpetrated against a powerless girl by brutal men. But in the months since Asifa’s murder, the case has become another battleground in India’s religious wars.

這似乎是印度又一起無關(guān)聯(lián)案件的駭人性暴力事件，是野蠻的男人對一個無力反抗的女孩犯下的惡行。但在阿西法被殺害后的幾個月里，這起案件已經(jīng)成為了印度宗教戰(zhàn)爭的新戰(zhàn)場。

Hindu nationalists have turned it into a rallying cry — not calling for justice for Asifa, but rushing to the defense of the accused. All of the men arrested are Hindu, and Asifa’s nomadic people, the Bakarwals, are Muslim.

印度教民族主義者已經(jīng)把這變成了一個戰(zhàn)斗口號——不是為阿西法伸張正義，而是爭相為被告辯護。所有被捕男性均為印度教教徒，而阿西法的巴卡瓦拉(Bakarwals)游牧民族，是穆斯林。

Some of the police officers who investigated the case are also Muslim, and for that reason, the Hindu activists say, they cannot be trusted.

一些調(diào)查本案的警察也是穆斯林，因此，那些印度教活動分子稱，他們不可信。

This week, a mob of Hindu lawyers physically blocked police officers from entering a courthouse to file charges against the men. The officers retreated to a judge’s house later in the evening to complete the paperwork.

本周，一群印度教律師用身體阻擋了警察的去路，不讓他們進入法院對這些男子提起控告。這些警官隨后在晚上悄悄進入一名法官的住所完成了文書工作。

Protests and counterprotests are now spreading. On Wednesday, much of Kathua, a small town in northern India near where Asifa was killed, was shut down by demonstrators, including dozens of Hindu women who helped block a highway and organize a hunger strike.

抗議和反抗議活動都在蔓延。周三，示威者導致印度北部靠近阿西法遇害地點的小城阿索亞大部分陷入癱瘓，其中有幾十名女性印度教徒擋住公路，組織了絕食抗議。

“They are against our religion,” said Bimla Devi, one of the protesters. If the accused men aren’t released, she said, “we will burn ourselves.”

“他們與我們的宗教作對，”其中一個抗議者比姆拉·德維(Bimla Devi)說道。她說，如果不釋放被告，“我們就自焚。”

Police officials say they have physical evidence and DNA tests linking the defendants to Asifa’s death. They also say they have interviewed more than 130 witnesses, who “unequivocally corroborated the facts that emerged.”

警方表示，他們掌握的物證和DNA檢測都把阿西法的死亡指向被告。他們還表示已經(jīng)問訊了130多名證人，“對有關(guān)事實構(gòu)成明確的佐證”。

Several prominent members of India’s dominant political force, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, are pushing to have the case taken out of the hands of the state police, arguing that the Central Bureau of Investigation would be a better, more neutral agency to handle it. Many suspect this is an attempt to win leniency for the accused, noting that the bureau is an arm of the central government, which the Bharatiya Janata Party controls.

在印度占據(jù)主導的政治勢力是印度教民族主義政黨人民黨(Bharatiya Janata Party)。其中有數(shù)名重要成員正在力求讓邦警察將案件移交出去，聲稱讓印度中央調(diào)查局(Central Bureau of Investigation)來處理會更妥當、更中立。許多人懷疑這是試圖讓被告獲得從寬處理，并指出該局是人民黨控制的中央政府部門。