http://indiatoday.
MP: Dalit woman raped in Betul
Ambreesh Mishra
Bhopal, January 12, 2010
Forty-six years old Janaki Bai, a Dalit woman from Jamwada village in
Betul district of southern Madhya Pradesh, was under the gaze of the
Amla police because they suspected her involvement in her son's
illicit liquor racket, who had been detailed by the cops on occasions
in the past. On the intervening night of June 1 and 2, 2009, the cops
decided to dish out rough and ready justice in its most gruesome form.
Acting on a dowry harassment complaint filed by the woman's
daughter-in-
husband and one of their two sons under section 498A of the IPC on
June 1. Her other son 25 years old Kailash Bamne, who is the husband
of the complainant woman in the dowry case, was lodged in jail
following the complaint and released on bail earlier. After the Multai
judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) denied Janaki Bai, her husband
and the other son bail and remanded them to judicial custody, the
police sent the men away to Multai jail but detained her in the Amla
police station overnight on the grounds that the Multai facility
didn't have separate lodging for women.
The police had no authority to take a suspect to the police station
once she was remanded to judicial custody. She should have been taken
to women's cell at Betul jail which is just 50 km from Multai and
where incoming prisoners are accepted till late evening as it is under
legal obligation to receive them. In the extreme case if she had she
been denied entry by Betul Jail, she could have been kept with women
police at Betul.
But the cops were bent upon teaching her a lesson. Four policemen took
turns to rape her overnight in the police lock-up at Amla police
station. Shamim Modi of Samajwadi Jan Parishad says, "Their intent was
to teach her a lesson in a most dehumanising manner possible for a
woman." Janaki Bai swore that the dowry-harassment case against her
family was bogus. Actually, her son Kailash had caught head constable
at Amla police station, N.K. Mishra, with his wife Kavita Bamne in a
compromising position and was going to blow up the matter.
The next day after her night of horror at the police station, she was
taken to Betul jail on June 2 where she narrated the incident to the
authorities. As the jail officials informed the district SP, the
cover-up began almost immediately. The woman's medical examination was
done at the jail itself on June 3, not Betul's district hospital, that
too a full day after she had alleged rape.
A day's delay in MLC examination could have an immense bearing on the
eventual outcome of the case. Yet, throughout the day on June 2,
police tried to persuade her to take back her complaint. A member of
visiting State Women's Right Commission, Kamala Wdiwa, who happens to
be doctor by profession, also examined Janki Bai at jail and confirmed
that she had been subjected to physical assault and rape.
Though, the Betul police registered a case under section 376 of IPC
and sections 2, 3 and 5 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,
against N.K. Mishra and three other unknown policemen on June 4, no
arrest was made. Janaki Bai and her husband and other son were
released on bail on June 5. The government merely transferred the head
constable and Station House Officer (SHO) Anil Kumar Thakur to other
police stations. Only when the outcry against the kid-glove treatment
against cops reached a crescendo were Mishra and constable Satish
Choure dismissed from service and charged with rape and violation of
SC/ST Act. Choure is still absconding while Mishra was released on
bail. SHO, Anil Kumar Thakur was charged under section 212 for
harbouring an offender and 201 of the IPC. Besides head constable
Satyaprakash Vajpayee and constables Keshavrao Vagdre, Ashok Sankar,
Arjun Singh were charged under section 120 and 201 of the IPC for
concealing evidence. All were arrested, released on bail and
suspended.
However, some rights groups later filed a petition in the Jabalpur
High Court against the lighter sections slapped against SHO Anil Kumar
Thakur under section 212 (harbouring offenders). On December 23, a
division bench of Chief Justice S.R. Alam and Justice R.S. Garg
directed Betul police to take action against Singh in accordance with
the report of the judicial inquiry conducted Betul judicial magistrate
first class (JMFC) into the entire episode. The Betul police have now
moved a request in the Betul court where a charge-sheet has already
been filed, to add charge of rape under section 376 of the IPC against
the SHO.
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