Price of teen gangrape: Rs 26000 P. BRAHMA CHOUDHURY TELEGRAPH INDIA Kokrajhar
Jan. 18: A bunch of rapists who forced themselves on a teenaged girl got away with a fine of Rs 26,000, courtesy the benevolence of village jurors whose collective wisdom could think of little more than a wad of notes as the perfect punishment. This travesty of justice would have gone unnoticed had the Kokrajhar unit of the All India Democratic Womens Association not intervened and brought it to the notice of the media and the district administration. The victim, a 15-year-old Santhali girl from West Karigaon, was visiting her aunt at Singimari near Kokrajhar on January 7 when the incident occurred. We heard about the incident only the next day, the victims father, Mangal Mardi, told representatives of the womens association when they visited the village. Three days after the incident, the gaonburhas (headmen) of the victims village and the place where the incident occurred convened a meeting at Singimari and ordered the culprits to pay Rs 26,000 in compensation. If that wasnt a mockery of the law already, only Rs 15,000 was meant for the victim. The gentlemen who conducted the trial presumably shared the rest. A senior police officer involved in the investigation that was ordered at the behest of the womens organisation said evidence was being culled from various sources to nail the culprits. We have the names of 15 people. Action will be taken against anyone found guilty. Organisations representing the Adivasi community were, however, silent on the case. A member of the All Adivasi Students Association of Assam said the accused were from influential families, which is why nobody had spoken out against them. Yasoda Brahma of the womens association said it was a shame that such a shocking incident had gone almost unnoticed. It is alarming that crime against women, especially rape of minor girls, is increasing in a place where women are supposed to be regarded highly. The president of the Bodo Progressive Fronts womens wing, Malati Rani Brahma, echoed her. It is unfortunate that women are no longer safe in society. What is even worse is that we do not guarantee justice to the victims. On the first day of the New Year, a 9-year-old was raped at Balajan Tinali. Raben Mondol, aged 50 and a father of three, was the culprit. On January 2, a mob caught Sushil Das, a driver, when he allegedly tried to molest a 12-year-old at Srirampur. Das was caught when the screams of the victim alerted residents. The mob thrashed the accused before turning him over to the police. A day later, Binode Narzary, 30, of Chetnaguri allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl of the same village. Narzary pounced on the girl and raped her when she went to the paddy field. Villagers caught the culprit and beat him up before calling the police. In yet another incident, a man was caught trying to molest a 5-year-old at Gurufella, under Gossaigaon police station, on January 4.
