Gangraped in 1998, 13-year-old Dalit girl awaits justice
Parimal Dabhi Posted online: Monday , Dec 28, 2009 at 0039 hrs
Ahmedabad : A 13-year-old Dalit girl from Mokshi village in Vadodara
district, who was allegedly gangraped by the nephew of a local MLA and
his accomplice in 1998, still awaits justice.
The Dalit girl's trauma began on March 13, 1998 when the two accused
abandoned her near a village pond after raping her. The girl's
grandfather took her to the Bhadarava police station, but the police
did not lodge an FIR. Subsequently, he took her to the SSG Hospital.
The victim was admitted in the Psychiatry department and her rape was
ignored. The girl was shifted to the gynaecology ward only after the
psychiatry head ordered it after diagnosing her as a rape victim.
The police lodged the FIR only after the victim's grandfather, with
the help of an NGO, Council for Social Justice, filed a petition in
the Gujarat High Court.
Subsequently, the police filed a chargesheet against the two accused
—Ramesh Chauhan and Ramesh Vankar — and the case was heard by the
Special Court for the offences registered under the provisions of the
Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Chauhan is the nephew of Congress leader Khumansinh Chauhan.
When the trial in the case got over and it was at the stage of
judgment, the Special Trial Judge realised that proper procedure was
not adopted in accordance with the law in the case, especially in
submitting the chargesheet.
The judge referred to the procedure by which the chargesheet of any
case is first submitted to the court of Judicial Magistrate First
Class (JMFC). The JMFC commits the case to the Sessions Court for
trial. In the case of this girl, the chargesheet was submitted to the
Sessions Court directly. So, in May 2007, the Special Judge ordered to
send back the case papers to the Investigating Officer to submit them
to the concerned JMFC first.
Now, 11 years after the minor girl was gangraped, the case still
remains at the stage of issuance of summons to the witness. Against
this, the main accused, Chauhan, has already died. And the other
accused, Vankar, belongs to the SC community and so he faces charges
under the provisions of the IPC.
Disappointed and furious, the secretary of Council for Social Justice,
Valjibhai Patel has written to the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High
Court explaining the plight of the Dalit victim and the negligence
shown by the administration and the judiciary in particular in the
case.Patel has requested the Chief Justice to take suo motu cognisance
of the case and to initiate legal proceedings against the responsible
officers like the Investigating Officer, Court Registrar, Chief Public
Prosecutor and the Special Trial Judge.
Patel said: "The case highlights gross negligence by almost all
concerned offices involved. Despite it being a case of gangrape of a
Dalit girl, the concerned Sessions Court had put it in Lok Adalat for
compromise in 1999. This shows the kind of insensitivity prevailing in
the Gujarati society towards such heinous offences against women and
Dalits."
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