INDIA: Police refusing to register a charge sheet in the case of rape of a minor girl

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner the PVCHR, a human rights organisation based in Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh state, India regarding the rape of a 13 years old girl. It is alleged that police has failed to register a case against the criminals despite several complaints.

CASE DETAIL:
According to the information received, the victim [name withheld], who is a minor girl aged about 13 year-old, and a resident of Belwa village in Varanasi district from the Musahar community. In India, the Musahar community is socially and economically one of the most marginalized communities. People from this community are taken as untouchables by the caste Hindus.

On 19 and 20 February 2007 there was a marriage celebration at the residence of Mr. Subedar, a resident of Belwa village. The victim went to Subedar’s house to deliver some plates and she stayed there until 2 am along with some relatives. At around 2:00 am the victim along with her relatives who are all below 10 years in age, were returning home from Subedar’s house. On their way home, when they reached near the brick kiln of Mr. Rajendra Tiwari somebody suddenly caught the victim from behind and dragged her away into the darkness.  When she and her cousins started screaming three more men came to the place and they stopped her cousins and threatened them not to make any noise. After that one of them beat the victim and raped her. After an hour, the victim returned home. It is alleged that she was threatened not to disclose the incident to anyone.

However the victim told the entire incident to her elder sister. The victim’s sister informed the incident to their father. Next day the victim along with her father went to the brick kiln of Mr. Rajendra Tiwari where the incident had taken place. There the victim identified the person who had raped her.

On 20 February when the father of the victim went to the Phulpur police station to lodge the complaint, the police refused to register a case. On 26 February 2007 the father of the victim lodged a complaint with the Superintendent of Police (Rural), Varanasi. However, the police have refused to register a case thus far.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The Musahar is considered to be an untouchable community in Uttar Pradesh. The members of this community face several forms of social ostracism and injustice. The Musahar are forced into bonded labour and often exploited in the name of caste and other social prejudices. Many members of the Musahar community in Belwa were forced to work as bonded labourers for Mr. Rajendra Thiwari in his brick kiln. However, all of them were released later after an intervention by the PVCHR.

The PVCHR has now developed a permanent folk-school in Belwa to work for the untouchable community in Belwa, particularly the Musahars. During this process the PVCHR and its activists along with the lower caste community in Belwa had to face severe opposition from Rajendra Thiwari and his men. This included, threat, intimidation and even physical assault and abuse. This reaction from the feudal landlord had the complete support of the local administration, including those at the district headquarters. For further information that are relevant to this issue please see UA-138-2005, UP-95-2005, UP-100-2005, UP-166-2005, UA-068-2006, UA-156-2006, UP-122-2006, HA-07-2006, UP-209-2006 and UA-041-2007.

In the past the PVCHR and the AHRC has documented cases where Rajendra Thiwari has used his influence to get around the local police and the administration so that the crimes that he and his men commit in the place are left unreported and no action taken. The AHRC and the PVCHR believes that in this case too since the perpetrators are associated with Rajendra Thiwari, the police is failing to take an action in this case.

As in any case, this case also requires collection of scientific evidence and statements of witnesses. Since this is a case of rape that requires gathering scientific evidence, the delay in registering the case could result in the actual culprits from being punished. Additionally, the AHRC and the PVCHR also has reasons to believe that the rape was a planned incident to teach a lesson to the Musahar community so that they will again be submissive to Rajendra Thiwari and his men.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the concerned authorities listed below and urge them to bring the perpetrators to the justice for their brutal acts on minor girl. A thorough and fair investigation into the case is necessary in this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER