A 17-year-old Adivasi girl, allegedly raped by two men at a village in Dharmapuri district last week, died in hospital, triggering protests by her family, alleging that there was delay in accepting their complaint and nabbing the accused. In this case, those who need to be punished are not just the rapists, but everyone who had acted in a lethargic manner. The girl’s story was a disturbing one for more than one reason. Since there were no adequate facilities in her village, the teenager, belonging to the ST community, was studying in a boarding school.
She returned home last week to celebrate Deepavali with her parents. Two days later, when she went to answer nature’s call in the woods near her home, she was allegedly raped by two men from the locality. According to her mother, the men were inebriated and her daughter, who was menstruating at the time, had fainted after being gagged. “They told her that they had already committed a murder and that no one would be able to do anything if they raped her. She had fainted. Her cousin discovered her as he was crossing by that area,” she was quoted as saying. After admitting her to a hospital, her parents went to the police.
Her father stated: “I went to the police station and gave a complaint but they asked us to come in the morning. We were there till 10 pm. In the morning, they told us that they had registered a complaint and said they had remanded both of them. But no action has been taken. Police has no respect for us. They don’t care about us.” It is also alleged that the police demanded a bribe to register the complaint. Though the police have said they have filed a case against the duo under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), the affected family needs justice and the accused should get punishment at the earliest. Also, officials who had failed to take appropriate action should be taken to task