Gujarat EDN
DNA 04SEP2012
Judge
ordered govt to pay a rape victim Rs5 lakh as compensation
DNA Correspondent l Ahmedabad
DNA Correspondent l Ahmedabad
Delivering
the verdict in the Naroda Patia massacre case, the special court observed that
gang-rapes had taken place during the riot and, in the case of at least one
woman, the prosecution had failed miserably to nail the culprits.
The court said that witnesses’ accounts, including that of a victim of gang-rape who had narrated her harrowing experience, indicated that rapes and gang-rapes had taken place in Naroda Patia that day.
“The prosecution has miserably failed to bring on record as to who committed the gang rape on the woman. There is, in fact, no material to believe that she has narrated an imaginary incident,” the court said while ordering the state government to give Rs5 lakh to the woman as compensation. The court further said that when a gang-rape is not proved for want of evidence, it does not naturally follow that gang rape had not taken place.
The special judge refused to accept that just because there was no doctor’s report or injury certificate proving a gang-rape it meant that the gang-rape had not taken place. “Subscribing to this view would amount to turning the face from the hard realities of life,” the court said.
Expressing sympathy for the woman, the court said that when the victim woman was not implicating any of the accused in the incident, it was clear she did not have any other intention in narrating what had happened, except to express her hurt at the violation of her human rights.
“The loud cries of such a victim of crime, if not heard by the system, is a mockery of justice,” the court said.
The court said that witnesses’ accounts, including that of a victim of gang-rape who had narrated her harrowing experience, indicated that rapes and gang-rapes had taken place in Naroda Patia that day.
“The prosecution has miserably failed to bring on record as to who committed the gang rape on the woman. There is, in fact, no material to believe that she has narrated an imaginary incident,” the court said while ordering the state government to give Rs5 lakh to the woman as compensation. The court further said that when a gang-rape is not proved for want of evidence, it does not naturally follow that gang rape had not taken place.
The special judge refused to accept that just because there was no doctor’s report or injury certificate proving a gang-rape it meant that the gang-rape had not taken place. “Subscribing to this view would amount to turning the face from the hard realities of life,” the court said.
Expressing sympathy for the woman, the court said that when the victim woman was not implicating any of the accused in the incident, it was clear she did not have any other intention in narrating what had happened, except to express her hurt at the violation of her human rights.
“The loud cries of such a victim of crime, if not heard by the system, is a mockery of justice,” the court said.
