E-Paper
But, who kept her away from home?
?IT WAS the State Women Commission?s (SWC) staff that took the initiative to keep my daughter in the protection home and they never allowed her to come back home referring to security reasons,? said Sabruddin, Ashiana rape victim?s father. Waiting helplessly to take their daughter home, Saburddin and other family members had intimated the SWC several times earlier about the mental trauma the girl was facing in the protection home.
“IT WAS the State Women Commission’s (SWC) staff that took the initiative to keep my daughter in the protection home and they never allowed her to come back home referring to security reasons,” said Sabruddin, Ashiana rape victim’s father.
Waiting helplessly to take their daughter home, Saburddin and other family members had intimated the SWC several times earlier about the mental trauma the girl was facing in the protection home. But, chairperson of the commission Ranjana Bajpai always turned down their plea saying that the girl was not safe at her home.
Though Bajpai was told about the round-the-clock police security provided at Sabruddin’s home, she had insisted on keeping the girl at protection home till the court verdict came.
Sabruddin still recalls how Deepa Bhatt, a member of Shakti Vahini (affiliated to women commission) had applied all her efforts in coercing the rape victim’s parents to withdraw their complaint against the main accused. Bhatt had even offered a hefty sum while asking for the favour.
Bhatt had visited Sabruddin even before the accused were identified.
While talking to HT Live, Sabruddin also recalls that it was Deepa Bhatt who had ‘managed’ sending the victim to protection home when they (girl’s parents) refused to withdraw the case.
Bhatt had even threatened Sabruddin and other family members with dire consequences if they pursued the case against the main accused, Sabruddin said.
Earlier when HT Live met the parents, they said, “My daughter just cries when I go to meet her. She wants to come back home and lead a normal life where she can be a normal self and breathe fresh air.
She has not come out of the protection home for months now. Why is she being jailed for no fault of hers? We can meet her only twice a month and that too just for half-an-hour. Is this justice? She is not a criminal she is victim.
So why is she being meted with such a treatment. If the state thinks that she needs protection, they should giver her protection at home and not at the cost of her future.”
Now the family is happy that the court has taken an initiative and are hoping that their daughter returns home soon. However, Ranjana Bajpai was not available for comments as she is out of station and Ashok Pandey, officiating Chairperson refused to comment on this and said that she is not aware about the case.
