20 May 2011 INDIA: Security personnel gang rape a 14 year-old tribal girl
ISSUES: gang-rape against minor; violence against women; indigenous people; impunity --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear friends, *The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the alleged gang-rape of a 14-year-old tribal girl by four security personnel in Narayanpatna, Koraput of Orissa state on 19 April 2011. The perpetrators broke open the door of the house where three children, including the victim, were sleeping at midnight. According to the testimonies of the children, the perpetrators looted their ornaments and asked for money. They raped the victim when she told them she did not have money. Furthermore, they threatened to kill her if she spoke out to anyone after having raped her in turns for about an hour. The girl was too scared to speak to anyone and to get medical treatment. Only several weeks later, the girl was encouraged by elders of the village who filed a complaint at Narayanpatna Police Station and the copies of the complaint were sent to the relevant government agencies. The villagers testified that they have been facing assault and plunder by the security forces for several years, which also happened in neighbouring villages. The Narayanpatna police visited the village on 13 May 2011, and allegedly abused and forced the villagers to put their thumb impressions on blank paper. On 15 May, the medical examination was conducted by Dr. V Sangita at Koraput District Headquarter Hospital.* *CASE NARRATIVE* (based on the testimonies of the victim children and the reports): At 3am, 19 April 2011, four unidentified men including one wearing a military uniform broke open the gate to enter the house located in Taladekapadu village, Narayanpatna Panchayat, Narayanpatna block in Koraput district of Orissa. They lighted on 14 year-old girl Sirka (name withheld) by torch and her younger girl cousin sleeping in the room to wake them up and went to the next room where her boy cousin Ganganna Sirka (12 years old) was sleeping alone. All three are tribal children and no adult was at home at that time. The children were sleeping at their uncle's home. The rapists who are alleged to be security personnel began questioning two tribal girls in Hindi which is not the girls' ethnic language. The girls identified them as security personnel since one of them wore a military uniform and all spoke Hindi. Immediately after recognizing them as security personnel and fearing them, the younger girl ran away to flee from the house whereas the other girl failed to escape. They tied the boy's hands and mouth with clothes, and forced him to lie down on the floor blindfolding him. After plundering the girl of gold earrings and three nose rings, they also forced her to lie down then gagged and blindfolded her. They then demanded money. As she said she did not have money, they beat her with a stick and slapped her repeatedly. One of them watched the broken entrance door, one held the boy in the other room while another held the girl's legs so the fourth one could sexually assault her. All of them raped her in turns while taking turns to hold the boy and the assault lasted for about an hour. Before leaving the place, they threatened to kill her if she made a complaint to the police or shared anything about them with anyone. After they left the boy managed to untie them and asked the victim what had happened to her. However, she could not tell him anything as she was too scared to speak out and even to get medical treatment. She did not file a complaint immediately after the incident since she was fearing for her life as the alleged perpetrators had threatened. The boy went out to call her parents who were sleeping in a small temporary hut nearby an agricultural field where her parents farm. During the agricultural season, the tribes build huts near their fields and stay there to prevent the wild animals from eating up their crops. The victim could not step out of house for about three days due to excruciating pain although she did not have internal bleeding. About two weeks after the incident, the victim girl was encouraged to speak of what happened to her by elderly of the village who suspected serious assault against the children. On 4 May, the elders of the village filed a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police (SP) by registered post while the girl's brother also filed a similar case by post. Accordingly the police have registered two cases (First Information Report -FIR) no. 13/11 and 14/11) under sections 450, 451, 379, 323, 342 and 376 (g) and 34 of Indian penal Code (IPC) at Narayapatna Police Station and conduct investigation. The copies of the complaint were sent to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) South-West region Soumendra Priyadarshi, Home Secretary U N Behera and several human rights institutions such as Orissa human Rights Commission, Orissa State Women’s Commission and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). It is reported that on 14 May, local media reporters along with human rights defenders visited the victim, her family and other villagers to find out the details of the incident. The villagers alleged that on 11 and 13 May, Narayanpatna police had visited the village and allegedly abused and forced the villagers to put their thumb impressions on blank paper. The Narayanpatna Inspector in Charge, contrary to the villagers' testimonies, denied the police abuse as well as forcible thumb impressions upon the villagers, and also the allegation about police involvement insisting that there was no combing operation on the day of incident. He suspected that it could be committed by the unidentified youths in uniform clarifying that lately there have been a number of thefts in the area and the alleged perpetrators could be one of them. The Inspector in Charge stated that they had taken thumb impressions of the victim girl and her brother in their FIR receipt which the elderly and the victim girl’s brother registered on 4 May. It is also found that the Inspector in Charge asked the victim girl to put her signature on another register on 14 May when the victim girl and her parents had gone for a medical examination. The Inspector in Charge still stated that it was for FIR receipt. On 15 May, Narayanpatna Police Station female constable Ms. Samita brought the victim girl, her parents and a few villagers to Koraput District Headquater Hospital where the victim girl’s medical examination was conducted by Dr. V Sangita. The NCPCR directed the District Human Rights Protection Cell under the office of Koraput SP to ensure proper counseling for the victim girl, for which the Koraput SP informed the lawyer Ms. Sujata Nayak in the letter (no. 499 dated May 14) that she has been appointed as a counselor for the victim girl and all expenses would be covered by the office of Koraput Collector. *BACKGROUND INFORMATION:* According to the testimonies by the villagers, it is the third time that the village faced a brutal assault by the security personnel. On 11 February 2011, at about 1 am the security personnel had attacked Mr. Kiya whose hut was nearby his farm and stolen 15 chickens and INR 2500 (USD 55). They also had stolen 10 chickens and INR 5000 (USD 110) from Mr. Benu Sirika’s hut. They beat women who tried to stop the security personnel from beating men. The security personnel took both of them to Narayanpatna Police Station and detained them in police custody by next morning. Next morning at 10 am, Mr. Kiya was sent back home whereas Mr. Benu was sent to Koraput district and is currently in district jail. In February 2011, the security personnel had come to the village and beaten a family and stolen their gold ornaments. It is alleged that the violence committed by the security personnel has been taking place in other neighboring villages such as Dumsil, Basnaput, Palaput, Podapadr, etc. As the villagers protest against the violence, the security forces have stopped committing violence against the villagers whereas the violence still takes place in other villages such as Taladekapadu village in this case. Narayanpatna became a battle field when the police fired against the villagers who expressed their grievances against the police officers carrying out anti-insurgent operations in the tribal villages in November 2009. The AHRC reported the case in AHRC-UAC-162-2009<http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-162-2009>and the Amnesty International also published the statement<http://www.humanrights.asia/news/forwarded-news/AHRC-FST-091-2009/?searchterm=Narayanpatna>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
