10-yr-old rape victim’s father pleads in Chandigarh: ‘Please save us from the media’

An official of the social welfare department said, “He started weeping in front of me, asking if we could stop the media from approaching his family. He told me that the media have turned his life into a living hell.”

It is a ‘Peepli Live’ situation at the house where the 10-year-old rape survivor lives with her parents in the servant quarters. The father is coping with his daughter’s rape and eight-month pregnancy, and yet he finds himself faced with a barrage of “insensitive” questions from the media.

The father said that he did not seek any help, but freedom from media glare. (HT Representative Image)

In such a situation, the girl’s father was forced to approach the director of social welfare in Chandigarh, with a simple plea, ‘Please save us from the media’.

An official of the social welfare department said, “He started weeping in front of me, asking if we could stop the media from approaching his family. He told me that the media have turned his life into a living hell.”

He further said the father told them that journalists were entering the house using fake identities, posing as people from NGOs, legal cell, social welfare department or child rights commission.

“The father told us, ‘Reporters lie. They visit our house saying they are from an NGO and want to help the child. We trusted them and shared our pain with them. But they breach our trust. They note down all personal information, which we see published in newspapers the next day’,” added the official.

The area where the family resides has become a hot spot for journalists and the neighbourhood has no love lost for them. They have openly displayed their disgust at the prying eyes of the media and there is a deep sense of distrust and resentment towards news organisations.

Another social worker said, “On Monday, the situation got worse when some news channels stationed their vans outside the house and tried to interview the family.”

A police officer said a journalist even posed as a cop and tried to interview the child. “Luckily, the investigating officer was present there and the reporter was stopped,” he added.

No end to woes

“The father told us, ‘Reporters lie. They visit our house saying they are from an NGO and want to help the child. We trusted them and shared our pain with them. But they breach our trust. They note down all personal information, which we see published in newspapers the next day,” a social welfare department official said.