Friday

Raped at 28, Justice at 53

The victim was 28 years old when she was raped by a Police inspector in 1984. After a period of quarter century the Madras High Court delivered a verdict for compensation when she turned 53 this year. This is a story of die hard woman fighter, against the insensitive government and slow motion courts.

A married woman residing at Nanguneri, Tamil Nadu accompanied her husband to the office cum residence of the Police Inspector Mangala Dhanraj on June 7 1984 to lodge a complaint regarding forcible occupation of her home by her relative. Mangala Dhanraj sent her husband away under some pretext. He then raped her and let her go only on the next day.

She was not the kind of women who would hide the incident in the pretext of preserving her feminine honor. She decided to fight and lodged a complaint with the police. Surprisingly FIR was registered quickly on the next day. However the next year the high court dismissed the case citing a technical reason that FIR was registered even before the RDO inquiry. But she continued her fight in the courts.

As it happens in most cases, like the corruption case of politicians, the police inspector used all available opportunities to drag the case. He even got promoted to become Deputy Superintendent of Police. After more than a decade in 1996 the sessions court convicted him and awarded 11 years imprisonment.

When the state government announced Rs.1.00 Lakh compensation, She had to approach the court again seeking compensation for Rs.10 lakh since she had already spent for cases and sold her house, the house for which she originally went to police station to lodge a complaint.

On 18 th of November 2009 a verdict by the High Court of Madras has attempted to offer a consolation Justice by directing the State Government to pay additional Rs.8 Lakh over and above the mandatory Rs.1 Lakh compensation. Justice K K Sasidharan observed:

“The petitioner is in fact, a role model for the women folk. Though she is a villager without any resources at her command, she was not prepared to accept defeat. She was determined to enforce the rule of law.’’

Justice Sasidharan further noted the state government’s lack of sensitivity and delay in processing her claims, said the authorities should have paid adequate compensation to her instead of turning her away with an insensitive reply that the government permits only Rs 1 lakh as compensation.

This is a rare case won by the victim, may be one in hundred cases of rape which went unreported. But there could be no restoration or compensation for the dignity which she may consider lost irreparably.

The court has pointed fingers at the government machinery for the delay, but we may have to wonder whether the delay in getting Justice and Compensation is solely on the part of government. It is also reasonable and true that our Judicial system is corrupt and offer too much time to the offenders to disprove their guilt.

In a recent development regarding the decision of the Supreme court to refer Mullai Periyar Dam row to a five member constitution bench, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi observed that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ since the case is pending for 11 years.

In river disputes the Government of Karnataka and the Government of Kerala have not respected the Court verdicts. They can successfully turn a legal issue in to a political issue and they can go unstopped by any mechanism in Indian Governance.

Therefore the observation of the court in the silver jubilee year of a rape in Nanguneri police station shall never be taken seriously by any government. If the courts allow the cases to be dragged to decades and if the Governments could ignore the court verdicts, the individuals have no other way but to bear the injustice. The woman from Naguneri is an exception by any standard.

We are proud of the humble and valiant human being who fought single handed against the might of immoral police, insensitive Government and slow track courts. She symbolizes human endeavor in traveling a road of hurdles in a long journey. We are here to praise a woman whose identity will not be revealed.

If Justice is not delivered on daily basis
The country is getting ruined everyday.

( ThiruValluvar 553 )