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Odisha rape victims recount 5-year long road to justice
On Monday, a fast-track Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Karimnagar in Telangana sentenced Lingampalli Kishan, 42, to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1.5 lakh for sexually assaulting the three girls.
A day after a Telangana court convicted a brick kiln owner for raping three minor girls from Odisha in 2014, the survivors said they did not lose hope and kept pursuing the case against all odds.
On Monday, a fast-track Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Karimnagar in Telangana sentenced Lingampalli Kishan, 42, to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1.5 lakh for sexually assaulting the three girls.
On March 16, 2014, Kishan had allegedly dragged a 16-year-old daughter of a labourer to his office and allegedly raped her.
When her parents tried to protest, Kishan beat them up and broke her father’s arm, according to the survivors. “He even threatened to kill them if they told anyone,” said one of the girls.
Again on April 14, he took away two minor siblings and allegedly sexually assaulted them at his office room. As their parents were not willing to act against Kishan fearing loss of work, the girls narrated their ordeal to their relatives in Odisha, who informed police in Telangana. The police arrested Kishan and recorded statement of the three survivors.
“We all wanted him to be punished, but as all three of us were daily labourers, it was difficult to travel frequently to the court in Karimnagar, about 1,200 km away. Besides, none of us knew Telugu, the local language,” the girl cited above said. The three girls alleged there was pressure from the family of brick kiln owner and the local labour officer to withdraw the case.
“The brick kiln owner even offered up to ₹10 lakh to each one of us to withdraw the case and even threatened to bump us off if we refused... The more he tried influencing us, the more we were determined to put him behind bars for the rest of his life,” the second girl said.
A local non-government organisation in Odisha had arranged funds for their travel. In Telangana, another NGO provided legal support and also arranged Telugu translators for them in the court.
Though trial under POCSO Act is supposed to be over in a year, in the Telangana case, it started two years after the FIR was lodged. “Then there were many procedural delays. The defence lawyer would seek time pleading sickness and at time the public prosecutor was not prepared leading to adjournment,” said Daya Sagar, one of the NGO workers who counselled the survivors.
Two of the survivors are now married and stay with their husbands in Odisha.
