Father Of Gang Rape Victim Who
Tried To End Life In Court Says Police Are Lying
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Ahmedabad: There is no end to the agony of the gang rape victim who attempted suicide in a metropolitan magistrate's court room on Wednesday. If slow judicial process drove her to take the extreme measure, the city police seem to be bent on rubbing salt to her injuries.
The woman was allegedly gang raped by her employer and six others in 2007. However, all attempts made by the victim and her parents to lodge a police complaint at the Amraiwadi police station went in vain. Then the victim moved the court to seek justice.
Now, the Karanj police say that the woman is contesting a divorce petition in the court. The cops claim they have no knowledge about the gang rape.
On Thursday, the victim's statement was recorded in front of a judicial magistrate. The 30-year-old woman told the magistrate that she had been running from pillar to post for the past four years. Pained by constant adjournments at courts, she had been pushed to the edge. She told the magistrate that she had pinned her hopes on the court hearing on Wednesday but that too got adjourned. She told the magistrate that she had been suffering from mental stress and ailments owing to her gang rape and then delays in court. She had been under medication and medical supervision for the past four years. The victim said that she felt that the only option open to her was suicide -to end this agony.
Karanj police officials, however, have a completely different story to narrate. On Wednesday, hours after the victim attempted suicide, her statement was recorded by a head constable. On Thursday, P U Sisodia, police inspector of Karanj said: “We do not know anything about her gang rape. She was depressed because she had got divorced and the court hearings were in this connection. Faced with constant adjournments in the case, she attempted suicide.”
When the police were asked why there is no mention of gang rape in her statement, Sisodia said: “Whatever the victim told us we have recorded it in her statement. We are going by the information she supplied to us.”
Father of the victim, who works at a textile procession unit, is quite incensed by this police apathy and “misinformation campaign”. “The police officials are lying. My daughter does not have any divorce petition in any court. The cops are trying to prove that my daughter is mentally unstable and relegate the case to the back burner again. I now feel that police and lawyers are playing a dirty game with us. In such a scenario, I do not have any hope of getting justice for my daughter,” he said.
State women's commission to probe role of police
Gujarat State Women's Commission chairperson Leena Ankolia said that the commission will inquire into why the woman's complaint alleging gang rape was not registered by the Amraiwadi police. “Since the matter is now sub judice, the commission cannot set up an inquiry into the case. But it has come to our notice that the police had not taken the girl's complaint of gang rape after which she filed a court complaint. We will inquire why the police did not take her complaint,” said Ankolia.
