A married woman approached the Hasanpur police station on July 23 to file a complaint against her husband. She met Sub-inspector Shiv Charan who did not register her complaint, instead, forced her to go with a man named Balli to a nearby field where she was allegedly gang-raped by three accomplices of the sub-inspector. The accused then held her hostage in a house for three days where they repeatedly raped her. They also allegedly shot obscene videos of her.
The ordeal was not over as she was then taken to a woman’s house where she was kept overnight and again repeatedly raped her. Once they are done raping her enough they allegedly sold her to another man named Bijendra, who along with his brother-in-law Gajendra again allegedly raped her. This time even the Sub-inspector Shiv Charan was precent and allegedly the rape happened in front of him.
An FIR was registered against seven people, including the sub-inspector of Hasanpur police station on Sunday.
This case is shocking on several levels but there has been total silence in mainstream media. The Indian Penal Code prescribes higher form of punishment for custodial rapes which are rapes that are committed within the premises of the police station or other authorities or within the vicinity of the premises and circumstances under the control of the authority. In India custodial rapes are common and police stations are largely considered an unsafe area. As a result, even when woman face domestic abuse and dowry harassment at home they never think of visiting the police station alone.
In this case, though media reports are not clear on the circumstances in which she visited the police station to register a complaint against her husband, it may be safely assumed that she wanted to fight back against some form of violence at home. Ironically, the first step in her road to access to justice she have faced further violence presumably as a form of punishment for daring to stand up for herself against her husband.
We would like to know whether the National Commission for Women and Women and Child Ministry has taken cognizance of the report and what actions they would take to ensure that justice is done to the survivor and a strong message against custodial rapes are given.
Women News called the NCW to seek a statement but did not get sufficient information. We were told the matter is related to the suo-moto cognizance department and they will investigate. Women News would update this space with more details as and when we get it.
Source, PTI, India Today.
