Justice on Hold: Power, Patriarchy, and the Silencing of the Subaltern in the Unnao Rape Case

In a country where survivors of sexual violence already fight relentless battles for recognition and safety, December 2025 reopened old wounds in the Unnao rape case. Recently, the Delhi High Court suspended the life sentence of the convicted former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the controversial centre of the case.

In June 2017, a 17 year old girl was allegedly assaulted by a group of politically influential men , and later was compelled to stay silent about the assault, exposing how patriarchal and power driven structures systematically marginalize subaltern bodies, suppress their voices, and normalize violence against those rendered vulnerable. The family faced threats and intimidation while seeking justice, highlighting systemic failures in local law enforcement.

Prior cases such as the Nirbhaya case, which was so high-profile that it broughtout constitutional and legislative reforms, and the RG Kar case, which recieved global attention, often resulted in punishments often perceived as inadequate, and till today, similar acts of violence continue to occur. This persistence reveals the structural failures of Indian legislation, governance, and societal protection of women’s rights.

From the very beginning, society subtly assigns power and limitation through playful games, boys are handed toy cars and guns, girls are given dolls and kitchen sets to play with, instilling early hierarchies that privilege male authority and constrain female agency. These lessons evolve into everyday practices within households and institutions where women are expected to speak softly, laugh quietly, and eat only after men have taken their portions, regardless of scarcity, while men are ideologically permitted to act, assert, and behave in whatever way they think is right. When a woman resists or asserts herself, it is often deemed transgressive and punishable, sometimes violently, as we witness in the Unnao case, where a young girl was allegedly assaulted by politically powerful men and pressured into silence.

Her position as a young woman from a marginalized social strata renders her vulnerable not only to physical violence but also to the mechanisms of systemic silencing. The threats and pressures she endured illuminate how the intersection of gender, class, and political power constructs a space in which subaltern voices are dismissed, delegitimized, and exposed to harm.

The recent suspension of Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s life sentence by the High Court, despite the gravity of his crime, reflects not only the vulnerabilities in legal processes but also the ways in which judicial discretion can be influenced by social and political hierarchies, leaving survivors feeling unprotected and marginalized. And The prolonged delay in the Supreme Court’s hearing of the Unnao case , too underscores how justice itself is mediated and postponed by the Judiciary.

Such institutional shortcomings demonstrate that law and governance, while nominally neutral, frequently reproduce patriarchal and political power structures, eroding public faith in the capacity of the state to uphold women’s rights and protect vulnerable bodies.

What emerges, finally, is a landscape where justice moves like a hesitant shadow, never fully arriving where it is most needed. From the cradle to the courtroom, women’s bodies become contested territories, inscribed with fear, patience, and obedience, while power walks unburdened through institutions meant to restrain it. The law, envisioned as a shelter, often stands leaking and incomplete, offering no reassurance to those at its margins. In this period of delayed hearings and taken for granted accountability, the subaltern voice does not simply fade, it is systematically taught to wait, to endure, to survive. And until the structures that nurture silence are dismissed, justice will remain a distant promise, hovering just beyond reach.