Raped by five men in turns in front of her husband in broad daylight, failed by the state police and torn between political blame game, the 19-year-old Dalit Alwar rape survivor finally had one of her long-time dreams fulfilled.
The Rajasthan government on Tuesday, 28 May, issued an order for her appointment as a police constable.
"The order to appoint the victim as a police constable has been issued. She will soon get the appointment letter," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajeeva Swarup told PTI.
The Class 12 student, a Dalit, was allegedly raped by five men in Thanagaji area of Alwar on 26 April in front of her 21-year-old husband. She had earlier said the politicisation of her case by BSP chief Mayawati and PM Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha elections campaigning had helped her get justice “since the state police had failed” her.
Speaking on the phone with The Quint, the survivor’s husband said, “We are happy that my wife has been appointed to the Rajasthan police but I hope they do not post her in Thanagazi. We will not be able to live here, forget about working. People will never look at us with dignity here.”
He added that he too wishes to join the state police someday to eradicate the malpractices in the system. “Don’t want anyone else to suffer like us because of police negligence. Want to improve the process,” he added.
What Had Happened?
On the fateful day, the woman was travelling with her husband on a motorcycle when the accused stopped them and took them behind a sand dune on the roadside.
They thrashed the woman's husband, tied him up and raped her in front of him. They filmed the heinous act on their phones and later threatened the couple with uploading it on social media, in a bid to extort money from them.
Initially, the couple kept quiet but the threat calls increased, after which the husband narrated the incident to family members and lodged a police complaint on 30 April.
The SP noted their statements but did not file an FIR. He marked the statements and sent them to the Station House Officer. The SHO investigated the matter for a day-and-a-half and then finally filed an FIR on 2 May.
On 4 May, something that the couple were afraid of happened. The video was made viral on all local WhatsApp groups by a man who was not one of the five accused.
The husband rushed to the SHO with his family but he was’t available to meet them. The survivor’s husband says the SHO told them to wait till the 6 May elections in the state get over, as till then there would not be enough police personnel there.
Police have arrested all six accused in the case.
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