Rape victim battles to put pieces of life together
Tuesday, 26/02/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130226/punjab.htm#8
Bathinda : Four months ago, she was brutally raped by seven men who made a video-film on her and chopped off her hair.The 14-year-old, a class VIII student, has not had the courage to return to school since then. Her two younger siblings did not go to school for a month after the sordid incident. The victim’s family has decided to sell their small piece of land and migrate.
Across the village fields is the house of Manpreet Singh,22, the key accused. His father Gurjeet Singh, 54, and his elder brother Charanjeet Singh, 56, are co-accused in the case along with four others. Shinder Singh, 50, Gurjeet Singh’s brother, is the only one left at home to tend to the fields and the cattle. “Shoot us but don’t call my brothers and nephew rapists,” he says. Showing documents pertaining to a civil suit, Shinder Singh claimed: “We have been framed. The girl’s father had sold us a piece of land some years ago. When the price of the plot went up, he sought more money but we refused.”
An FIR was filed on October 20, 2012, alleging that Manpreet Singh and his friend Raju had forcibly taken the girl to a room 150 metres from her house and raped her . The victim’s further alleged that on October 14, the two called her up, asking her to meet them outside her house. They promised to delete the video-clip on her.
However, the two, who were accompanied by five others, took her away and raped her again. They cut off her hair and dumped her outside her house.
The Deputy Commmissioner said there was no scheme under which the victim could be rehabilitated. The Senior Superintendent of Police said the police had acted immediately on receiving the complaint and booked the accused.
Lives Shattered
Traumatised, she has not dared to return to school
Her two younger siblings did not go to school for a month
The family has decided to sell land and shift out
