Family of eight-year-old gang rape survivor told to vacate house given by BJP govt in Madhya Pradesh
The Indore Development Authority has asked the parents of a gang rape survivor from Mandsaur, who were allotted a house and a shop in the city, to vacate the home as no official order was issued by the previous BJP government, officials said.
The Indore Development Authority (IDA) on Wednesday asked the parents of a gang rape survivor from Mandsaur, who were allotted a house and a shop in the business city of Madhya Pradesh, to vacate the home as no official order was issued by the previous BJP government, officials said.
Then-chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced a rehabilitation package for the victim, including allocation of a house and a shop in Indore, after the rape incident became a political issue in the state.
The IDA provided a house to the family while the district administration provided a shop to father of the girl on a temple’s premises. The girl and her two siblings were granted admission in a reputed school in Indore.
The 8-year-old survivor, now studying in Class 3, was allegedly gang raped by two persons on June 26, 2018, in Mandsaur, after being kidnapped from near her school.
After allegedly raping her, the accused slit her throat and left her to die. The girl was found in a pool of blood in bushes near her school by locals, who informed the police. She was treated in a government hospital in Indore for about five months. Both the accused were found guilty and awarded death penalty in July 2018.
Read: Doctors shocked at Mandsaur gang rape victim’s injuries, say she is ‘too traumatised to talk’
“When the BJP government was replaced by Congress government several people told me that I would have to go back to Mandsaur as the government has changed. Their words have come true. The previous government didn’t ensure any formal order in regard with the house and shop,” the father of the girl rued.
IDA executive engineer NL Mahajan said the house was given to the family after announcement made by the previous government. “But there is no formal order till now. We don’t have any right to hand over the house to anyone without a formal order.”
“The family was not living in the house either. The house was rented out to get some money and use the same money for them to get a house on rent near the temple where the shop was given to father of the girl,” he said.
The father said he now feared that his children would be sent off from school in the next academic session “as I can’t afford the fees of Rs 4.5 lakh”.
“The trauma and pain might be forgotten by politicians but we are still in immense pain,” the girl’s mother said.
“My daughter still undergoes trauma. She cries in her sleep shouting ‘Mummy bachao, mummy bachao’. I can’t bear the pain. She lives in a hostel of the school with her elder sister and visits us during holidays. She is facing many health issues. She can’t feel some part of her head. She also lost vision in one of eyes.”
State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said the matter needs to be dealt sensitively without politicising it. “If there is some issue, the state government should take action immediately.”
Higher education minister and legislator from Indore, Jeetu Patwari, said, “Everybody knows how the previous government was working. I will check why a formal order was not issued by the previous government. I am not aware of the fresh development. But I can assure the family that they won’t be asked to vacate the house.”
