Gangrape victim self-immolates over Police inaction

victim. The police inaction triggered a massive reaction across the city with traders shutting their shops and observing bandh and demanding the suspension of police officials.

Meanwhile, Organiser spoke to the husband of the victim, who couldn’t stop sobbing while talking to this correspondent, blamed the police machinery for his wife’s death.

“I have lost my wife due to the casual, irresponsible and derelict attitude of police officials. She kept visiting police station to check the progress of her report, but every time she went there, she was harassed, tormented and insulted in one or the other way. In fact, I shall never pardon the entire police machinery for insulting and harassing my wife to the limit that she had to self-immolate in the police station to protest their lethargy”.

“Even after her death, she was shown no respect by the department who were quick to declare that she had consensual relation with the accused. It didn’t stop here but they also revealed her identity which is just not legally permitted,” he said, referring to the revelation of victim’s name in a press conference called by police officials. However, the victim’s husband, who is a retired ex-army official, disconnected the phone before breaking into tears and accusing police officials of abetting suicide.

Meanwhile, the issue rocked the Rajasthan Assembly on July 30 as the Opposition BJP staged a

walkout against the suicide of the rape victim.

Speaking to media, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Shanti Dhariwal, said, “Our government on July 30 ordered a CID-CB probe in the rape victim’s self-immolation case. Sanjay Godara, the SHO at the police station, has been declared APO and shall be suspended soon.

Surprisingly, he also set his tune with police officials saying, “Prime facie, it looks like a case of the consensual affair. The victim complained of rape in 2015 in her complaint. For the last four years, she has been travelling with the accused, who happens to be the cousin brother of her husband, to places like Udaipur, Ajmer, Delhi and Nainital. She could have made this complaint earlier too. But she complained it now after four years which raise doubt on her complaint as the accused has shown the chatting and other records too. However, we accept that she was mistreated at the police station and therefore we have decided to suspend the SHO. We have ordered that a senior officer (minimum Additional SP rank) should probe the issue, he said adding, “it needs to be probed if she had consensual affair or if she was raped and blackmailed and investigation needs to be done into the role of police officials too.”

Meanwhile, different organisations of Rajasthan community observed bandh in many parts of Jaipur on July 30 to protest the police dereliction in the case.

Further, the case has also taken the communal shape with the victim being Rajput and the SHO being a Jat. These are two castes which go against each other in the State. However, Dhariwal refuted all such claims and said that SHO here means a police officer who has to be responsible for all cases. If other police officers are found guilty, they too will be penalised, he said.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Ashok Lahoti said, “If this is the plight of victims in the state capital who get no attention on police station, what might be the situation in the interiors? It seems that victims will stop going to lodge their complaints under fear and terror. I also ask police to look into the matter and then act, he said as police were quick enough to declare that it was a consensual affair without even the matter being probed.

“We raised the issue in assembly but Government doesn’t want to speak and answer into this issue. We were ignored on floor too. The question is where should a victim go to lodge her complaint when she remains unheard in police station, she had to self immolate; in fact, there has been a rise of 80% cases of rape in Rajasthan since the new government came in. Is the State Government patronising criminals? Is the government protecting the criminals? This issue raises the question on the working of a State Government. I demand government to wake up from slumber and take the right action”, he added.

The rape victim, a woman, wife of an ex-serviceman in Jaipur, set herself ablaze at the Vaishali Nagar police station, on July 28 demanding the arrest of the rape accused. The victim claimed that the suspect raped her after spiking her drinks filmed the act in 2015. After that, he had been blackmailing her and calling her to different locations. Even the ATM card of her husband was in his possession and he was spending money on his own terms and conditions. She had visited the police station many times to know the status of her complaint, which left her frustrated.

When asked if the couple were undergoing divorce, her husband, speaking to Organiser, said that he was posted outside and hence her wife due to depression was not talking to him. She looked stressed and hence he thought of undergoing separation. However, when I returned here after my retirement, she shared the story and then we decided to lodge a police complaint in the matter; however, all went wrong after this complaint.

According to a press note issued by the police commissioner, the victim visited Vaishali Nagar police station around 3 pm with her son (13 years old) asking for Bothara. She was informed that he is out for some official task. She went and came back after 15 minutes, poured inflammable substance and immolated herself. She was rushed to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries at 4.45 am on Monday, said the police press note.