THE RAPE VICTIM

THE RAPE VICTIM

       The Taxi traversed the bend and Amritha sat gloomily, trying to remember the event at the same time resisting it, and felt the sweat and the rapid heartbeat, coursing through her heaving chest. She had just completed her graduation in forensic science and was returning earlier than usual as she received an urgent message from her crying mother, equally anxious.  She had lost her father a year back in an accident and her mother had financially struggled to continue her studies and her younger sister’s education by tailoring. She was hopeful that she will be able to procure a government job as there was a demand for forensic science in the police department. and take care of her family.  In fact, she was awaiting her appointment order as she had passed the recruitment exams recently.

         Now, all her happiness got shattered when she heard the news of her sister. She saw her flat from a distance and as the taxi reached the entrance, she saw a police van and a few policemen walking towards the entrance of her home. She stopped the taxi, embarked, paid the driver and rushed towards her house.

         The police officers were questioning her sister about the alleged rape incident in the presence of her mother and making derogatory statements cynically and laughed loudly. She entered and sat near her mother who introduced her as her daughter. Amrita particularly noticed one police assistant commissioner sitting quietly and reprimanding the others for their stupid sexual utterances and his senior officer was asking him to shut up. Then, one of the police constables after a nod from the commissioner suggested “We will try to bargain an amount to keep the episode under wraps from the media and also legally.” Her mother stared at him and he clamped down.  After they left, she joined her mother in consoling her sister, who was uncontrollably shedding tears.   

From their discussion she understood the accused was the son of a state minister and enjoyed the clout of all the government officials and the judiciary and had also committed several rapes choosing good looking, poor or middle-class girls and remained scout free. After the incident they tried to wrap it up by offering money as inducements and where it was not possible used strong-arm techniques by threatening and blackmailing the family. He was exonerated from all the cases as there was no evidence, proofs or witnesses to substantiate it, and the prosecution did not highlight the evidence and remained quiet to help the defense.

After a week of remaining incommunicado to the media and staying quietly to heal the mental and physical wound, they decided not to press charges as there was no way they could fight the power and influence of the perpetuators. Their lawyers gave false promises to take advantage of the situations and to provide a tough fight to their so-called professional opponents, so that they can leverage maximum amount from both sides.  Within two weeks all the hype subsided but the victim and the family were nursing their wounds with suffering and fortitude.

 Amrita was posted in the forensic science laboratory in the district head-quarters and she joined duty without any reservation or reluctance, as her salary was important to the family. She continued to work with diligence and earned a good name. None seemed to know about her family’s suffering and she also remained discreet about it. 

After about two weeks even though her sister had slowly recovered from the trauma, she still refused to go to the school. They did not insist, but allowed her to go to her friend’s house nearby who did not remind or reprimand her. But the early carefree demeaner or frequent smile, dancing and chanting all vanished and a pensive forlorn look dominated her. A sense of maturity seemed to have crept into her, or was it a frightened subdued response, with startle reactions occasionally.

Amrita alertness in a sense had also diminished. She was not the same as before. Her sister’s suffering had also affected her much, but she could not overtly show it as her present job warranted her to be discreet and be amiable with her colleagues and present with an active mind, not a pensive one.

 Two weeks later, she heard that an IPS officer was posted to head the forensic department and all were bracing to meet him with lots of hope for revamping the department, as it required badly. A meeting was scheduled for all the staff in the afternoon.

The meeting started on the dot of time. Throughout the proceedings, she felt she had met him somewhere, but could not exactly place it. After the meeting which discussed about the revamp, the P.A. to the assistant commissioner phoned requesting her to be present in his office chamber. She hurriedly left and found him talking to a few of his assistants. She waited and then was ushered in. The boss looked from the files and requested her to sit. He came to the point. “How is your younger sister.”  She almost choked and stayed silent, tears brimming her eyes. “I am sorry. It was not my intention to remind you. It is out of my genuine concern.’ She braced herself and replied ‘She is improving day by day.” “Sir, how do you know about it.” He replied “I was part of the investigation. You don’t seem to remember me now. You had arrived just then. My boss was questioning her and made some unwanted remarks and I intervened and he reprimanded me.”                                                                                           “Yes Sir, I remember now.” As I stood up to go in vacillation he retorted “I won’t spill the beans. Don’t worry, we will nail the culprit.”

My job also entailed visiting the local police stations to enquire and collect forensic evidence and on one such occasion, I saw a good-looking school girl with her mother and father pleading with the station master and he was evading them, his assistant sympathetically requesting the station master to help them.   She was my sister’s classmate and so I waited outside. When they came out, I accosted them and the girl knew me. I heard all the complaints and convinced them that her boss would certainly help them. So, she hired an auto and took them to see her boss.

They were ushered into his chamber and he sat listening to the girl and her parents. The Minister’s son studying in the nearby college was bothering her to go with him for a movie and as she was a minor and knew about him, she was reluctant and refused him. Now he was taunting and threatening her. So, the parents had sought police help, but they were unwilling to intervene, fearing backlash from the minister. After getting all the details, she assured them that some action will be taken and to keep all these consultation secret. She went back to the boss room and found him in animated conversation over phone. He requested her to sit and after sometime closed the phone. He sat pensive for a second and then laid bare the plan to fix the minister’s son with fool-proof evidence. Thought she felt it to be an elaborate plan with no loose ends, she was unable to fathom how they could get the help of the girl completely in carrying out the plan. She decided to mull over it, as to whether it was practically possible.

In the afternoon, Amrita received a call to be present for a meeting chaired by the boss. It was a closed-door meeting and all the switched off mobiles were handed over to the boss, who kept it in his cupboard. There were two others; one was a police inspector who looked  familiar as he was the sympathetic person requesting the station master  and a young lady who was a free-lance investigative journalist.  First, they all were sworn to secrecy and then they discussed their plan. All the four were committed as they were affected by the series of rapes carried out by the minister’ son, one way or other.  Amrita was given the most important and sensitive task of talking to the girl and preparing her, to give her confidence to tackle the problem. The modus operandi of the minister’s son carrying out the rape, which was a pattern was discussed. All of them visited the spot which was an old out house of the minister, late at night. They had already installed camera at vantage points, through a private agency which received a call from the minister’s office. The back-side  exit to the out-house was located and the lock were manipulated for easy opening.  The only bed room likely to be used had a window from the inside whose locks were kept open.

  All aspects of the plan were discussed. There could be some last-minute hitches and then they will have to move according to the situation, which was very unlikely as the perpetuators were over confident and felt no one could be able to touch them.

Amrita was in constant contact with the girl and she discovered that the minister ‘s son was putting pressure on her. Amrita constantly reported to the other three and followed their instruction. She also made it a point to recon the bus stops around 4 pm where the girl generally waited for the bus, near the Tea shop, just opposite to it. She found a mini -van sometimes parked near the bus stop and she noted the number plate. Enquires by the police revealed that it belonged to the Minister.  

Nearly a week later as, she was on recce near the tea shop; the girl alone in her line of vision, the minivan suddenly turned the corner and stopped near her and tried to pull her into the van. She started screaming and passerby noticed it but the van raced away with her. She noted the mini-van number and asked the tea shop owner to call and inform the police control room so that it will be recorded. A few passersby also raised an alarm. She requested them also to do the same. Amrita then radioed to the boss. “They have dragged her into the van and it is speeding off. I will follow them.”   She did it at a safe distance. It stopped near the outhouse, and the girl alighted and she was dragged inside. She was offering resistance with muffled screaming. Then the other three of her colleagues arrived and she left with the journalist to enter the outhouse through the back door. They entered the hall and through an adjacent window, pried the latch and took videos of the girl with the others inside the room. To her utter shock, she saw the Minister entering with his son. and trying to molest the girl. Amrita exclaimed “Father and son together?” The journalist retorted “Disgusting.” “You now know the reason why he was protecting his son.”   When the journalist had enough of the pictures, she gave a missed call through her mobile to the police personnel who activated the siren. Hearing it and seeing the police car, they left the scene in a hurry and their car drove away. The girl was rescued and she was taken to Amrita’s house. Then they all went to the office and saw the video. It was a clear case of molestation and rape by the minister and his son and it would be in the early morning breaking news the next day in all channels, so that the source could not be traced.

  Utter chaos followed; the media’s constant breaking news   and the public outcry raised in sympathy of the victim all over the state resulted in the Minister resigning his post. The boy with all his henchmen found in the CCTV of the out-house were arrested and the Chief minister ordered a CBI investigation as it involved a minister. All the other cases of rape ware also clubbed to the present one, by an order from the Supreme court, following a petition by all the victims.  

Amrita and the trio had vindicated the wrong done to her sister and to all others as all the accused ware convicted by the top court six months later and sent to serve for a minimum of 20 years rigorous imprisonment in jail. Thereafter, Amrita noticed a change in her sister and the girl who indirectly helped them was commended by her Boss for her bravery and was assured a job in the forensic department if she passed the necessary exams. He summed up “If more police personnel do not succumb to the psychopathic politicians pressures, the public will be a lot safer”