She was about 5 years old, she was lying on a stretcher in the emergency ward of a government hospital in Central Delhi. She was in pain, but was also smiling at me and my lawyer friend. She was bleeding heavily but the Emergency ward was preoccupied with...well! an emergency.
I went out to check with the Investigating Officer as to what was the problem and why was it taking so long for the doctors to attend to her. I found him in a pensive mood, lost in thought about what had happened a few hours ago and also keeping track of all the points that need to be covered within a short span of time, this time, as lawyers would agree, can make or break a case especially a case of rape.
She was gang raped by 4 boys, known to her elder sister, while she was playing outside her jhuggi in the afternoon, she was still in her school uniform and had been lured by the boys on the pretext of giving her something sweet to eat.
To keep her mind occupied, we were cracking silly jokes to which she would laugh, but we had to be careful cause if she laughed too loud she would then wince in pain. I held her hand till she was taken into the operation theatre, while leaving my hand she had a look of fear on her face and she mumbled 'didi....' Outside we spoke with her father and her elder sister. The father, an old man, a rickshaw driver was distraught that this should happen to his youngest daughter.
We waited with her till she was taken in the emergency ward as she had to be operated on. Next day came with all other important aspects to be dealt with, her statement, arrest, medical report, statement of her sisters and others. She was still in the hospital and had been advised complete bed rest. Once she was declared fit, the issue of her 164 statement came up. She had to be trained, but not tutored, it was extremely important that she narrated the important points to the judge recording her statement otherwise it cannot be relied on. At the same time we had to be sure that she is not reciting the incident like she has memorized it...gawd, it was crazy and we did not want her to feel the pressure at all.
We were waiting outside the courtroom, the girl, her father and me, while the IO had gone to the judge to inform her that the witness was here to make her statement. In the judge's chamber no one except for the girl would be allowed to ensure complete reliability of the statement, so she had to be as comfortable as possible while making the statement.
I think the biggest victory was when she came out after making the statement and narrated to us all that she said, then she looked at her father a bit scared as to what his reaction would be, and he hugged her and told everyone around that he is so proud of his daughter and that she had shown so much courage and is a brave one. the girl was so happy to make her father proud of something. Not once was she made to feel like she had done something wrong, especially by her father, some of her sisters were a bit critical of what had happened though.
The trial did not go very well, since the girl had a very visible squint, the judge felt that she probably is not of sound mind, I cant even being to tell you the problems that I had with this mindset, but we dealt with it. Then came the stage of her evidence in court, by then rape cases were being heard by women judges, so we had a woman presiding officer, who would regularly accuse me of 'interfering' with the trial and try to have me removed from court. (This judge, btw is now in the High Court!) I would insist on sitting in court and pretty much dare her to have me thrown out, all the time waving a copy of the supreme court guidelines which entitled me to be present in court and also do my job.
I had started writing this post around the Delhi rape case and only wanted to highlight that this happens all the time and there are a lot more things that need to be done other than asking for the blood of the accused persons.... in this case the sheer insensitivity of the system was very clear, even though, mind you, the police did a good job and the IO was very sensitive, still the accused were given lighter sentences and no other action was taken.
I went out to check with the Investigating Officer as to what was the problem and why was it taking so long for the doctors to attend to her. I found him in a pensive mood, lost in thought about what had happened a few hours ago and also keeping track of all the points that need to be covered within a short span of time, this time, as lawyers would agree, can make or break a case especially a case of rape.
She was gang raped by 4 boys, known to her elder sister, while she was playing outside her jhuggi in the afternoon, she was still in her school uniform and had been lured by the boys on the pretext of giving her something sweet to eat.
To keep her mind occupied, we were cracking silly jokes to which she would laugh, but we had to be careful cause if she laughed too loud she would then wince in pain. I held her hand till she was taken into the operation theatre, while leaving my hand she had a look of fear on her face and she mumbled 'didi....' Outside we spoke with her father and her elder sister. The father, an old man, a rickshaw driver was distraught that this should happen to his youngest daughter.
We waited with her till she was taken in the emergency ward as she had to be operated on. Next day came with all other important aspects to be dealt with, her statement, arrest, medical report, statement of her sisters and others. She was still in the hospital and had been advised complete bed rest. Once she was declared fit, the issue of her 164 statement came up. She had to be trained, but not tutored, it was extremely important that she narrated the important points to the judge recording her statement otherwise it cannot be relied on. At the same time we had to be sure that she is not reciting the incident like she has memorized it...gawd, it was crazy and we did not want her to feel the pressure at all.
We were waiting outside the courtroom, the girl, her father and me, while the IO had gone to the judge to inform her that the witness was here to make her statement. In the judge's chamber no one except for the girl would be allowed to ensure complete reliability of the statement, so she had to be as comfortable as possible while making the statement.
I think the biggest victory was when she came out after making the statement and narrated to us all that she said, then she looked at her father a bit scared as to what his reaction would be, and he hugged her and told everyone around that he is so proud of his daughter and that she had shown so much courage and is a brave one. the girl was so happy to make her father proud of something. Not once was she made to feel like she had done something wrong, especially by her father, some of her sisters were a bit critical of what had happened though.
The trial did not go very well, since the girl had a very visible squint, the judge felt that she probably is not of sound mind, I cant even being to tell you the problems that I had with this mindset, but we dealt with it. Then came the stage of her evidence in court, by then rape cases were being heard by women judges, so we had a woman presiding officer, who would regularly accuse me of 'interfering' with the trial and try to have me removed from court. (This judge, btw is now in the High Court!) I would insist on sitting in court and pretty much dare her to have me thrown out, all the time waving a copy of the supreme court guidelines which entitled me to be present in court and also do my job.
I had started writing this post around the Delhi rape case and only wanted to highlight that this happens all the time and there are a lot more things that need to be done other than asking for the blood of the accused persons.... in this case the sheer insensitivity of the system was very clear, even though, mind you, the police did a good job and the IO was very sensitive, still the accused were given lighter sentences and no other action was taken.
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