http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/Prodded-by-HC-cops-file-rape-case-after-6-yrs/articleshow/10144721.cms
Prodded by HC, cops file rape case after 6 yrs
Suchandana Gupta | Sep 27, 2011, 11.00PM IST
BHOPAL: The search for justice for a young tribal woman, who was
allegedly raped in 2005, ended with the Gwalior bench of the Madhya
Pradesh High Court directing the Morena district police to register a
case. It took the police six year and the court directive to act.
The victim, a member of the Mogiya tribal community, and her husband
went to work as farm labourers to the neighbouring district of Morena
in Chambal region. While returning from work one evening she was
allegedly raped by persons belonging to an upper caste. Soon after the
incident, the victim and her husband rushed to the local Dimni police
station to register a complaint. However, the police refused to
register an FIR. The couple, thereafter, moved court for seeking
justice. On August 10, the Gwalior bench of the MPHC directed the
district police to register the case and start an investigation. "A
case has been registered under section 376 (rape) the IPC and sections
of the SC/ST Atrocities Act,'' confirmed Mangal Singh Dhakre,
inspector in-charge of the Dimni police station.
"After the High Court direction, we had to go through certain
formalities like verifying the caste of the victim and her
identification. The case was registered on September 21. As it is a
issue of an atrocity against tribal, investigation files are being
forwarded to the office of the deputy superintendent of police.'' The
police, however, admit that no medical test was conducted after the
alleged rape, making it practically impossible to get the evidence for
rape.
According to the police, the victim was 23-year-old at the time of
incident. She was then a resident of Bijapur tehsil in Sheopur
district and had migrated with her husband to Morena in search of
employment. In 2005 they were employed by an upper caste landlord at
Betalkapura village in Ambah tehsil. On July 14 evening that year, she
was gagged and taken to the fields by two upper caste youths of the
same village and raped. "The victim identified one accused as Hari
Singh Tomar. The second person, though accused, is still
unidentified,'' Inspector Mangal Singh Dhakre said. The inspector
in-charge at the time DP Gupta was killed in the crossfire with
anti-socials in Datia district earlier this year.
Asked why no case was registered despite the victim and her husband
went to the Dimni police station after the incident, the inspector
said: "Six years ago, there was a different team here. I am not aware
of the reasons for denying them a chance to file the FIR.''
Refusing to accept the defeat over the police attitude, the victim
within a week after the incident had filed an appeal before the court
of the judicial magistrate in Ambah. The court almost immediately
directed the district police to register the case under relevant
sections of the IPC and SC/ST Atrocities Act 1989. But the accused
Hari Singh Tomar approached the district sessions court which quashed
the lower court's order. Unfazed by the setback, the victim then
approached the Gwalior Bench of the HC. After hearing the case over
the next four years, the HC last month issued the orders to the
district police. Another month and ten days later, the police filed
the case against Hari Singh Tomar and his unidentified accomplice. No
arrests have been made as yet.
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