印度社会乱糟糟！八岁女孩遭奸杀引发宗教之争

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，八岁女孩阿西法.巴诺(Asifa Bano)正穿着一条紫色连衣裙，在印度北部的一片草地上放牧马匹。一个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.

按照警方的说法，他抓住她的脖子并逼她吃下了安眠药。他们说，在一个朋友的帮助下，他把她拖到了附近的一个寺庙并把她锁在了里面。

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.

警方称，在接下来的三天里，这两名男子和至少另外一人，一次又一次地强奸她。他们告诉调查人员，他们的动机是想把阿西法的游牧部落赶出这片地区。最终，据称在其中一名男子坚持进行最后一次强奸之后，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.

几天后，人们在这片森林中发现了阿西法遭到蹂躏的身躯，她身上那条紫色连衣裙，现在沾满了血迹。

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.

据案发地查谟-克什米尔邦的警方称，八名与本案有关的男子被捕，其中几人已经认罪。有两名被告据说是收了数千美元后协助掩盖罪行的警察。其中一名被捕嫌犯称自己15岁，但警察根据医学检查，认为他至少有19岁。

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.

这似乎是印度又一起无关联案件的骇人性暴力事件，是野蛮的男人对一个无力反抗的女孩犯下的恶行。但在阿西法被杀害后的几个月里，这起案件已经成为了印度宗教战争的新战场。

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.

印度教民族主义者已经把这变成了一个战斗口号——不是为阿西法伸张正义，而是争相为被告辩护。所有被捕男性均为印度教教徒，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.

一些调查本案的警察也是穆斯林，因此，那些印度教活动分子称，他们不可信。

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，一群印度教律师用身体阻挡了警察的去路，不让他们进入法院对这些男子提起控告。这些警官随后在晚上悄悄进入一名法官的住所完成了文书工作。

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.

抗议和反抗议活动都在蔓延。周三，示威者导致印度北部靠近阿西法遇害地点的小城阿索亚大部分陷入瘫痪，其中有几十名女性印度教徒挡住公路，组织了绝食抗议。

“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.”

“他们与我们的宗教作对，”其中一个抗议者比姆拉?德维(Bimla Devi)说道。她说，如果不释放被告，“我们就自焚。”

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，他们掌握的物证和DNA检测都把阿西法的死亡指向被告。他们还表示已经问讯了130多名证人，“对有关事实构成明确的佐证”。

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.

在印度占据主导的政治势力是印度教民族主义政党人民党(Bharatiya Janata Party)。其中有数名重要成员正在力求让邦警察将案件移交出去，声称让印度中央调查局(Central Bureau of Investigation)来处理会更妥当、更中立。许多人怀疑这是试图让被告获得从宽处理，并指出该局是人民党控制的中央政府部门。