Churu gang-rape survivor hits back at Congress MLA, police

Jaipur: The 35-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang-raped by cops in Sardarshahar police station in Churu district told TOI from her hospital bed in Jaipur on Thursday that the politicians and the police officials doubting her complaint should care to tell how her nails vanished all of a sudden.

Her husband said that he has lost his brother due to the police torture and now the political leaders are branding the family as liars.

Even as the police investigation on charges leveled by the rape survivor is still on, Congress MLA from Sardarshahar Bhanwar Lal Sharma had claimed in the state assembly on Monday that the woman was neither raped nor her nails plucked by the police.

“If they (cops) did not remove my nails then how did they disappear, does anybody have an answer?” she asked, showing injuries on her legs. The gang-rape survivor said that the accused cops, including the suspended SHO, ripped apart her nails inside the police station. “There was a woman constable who is witness to the entire crime,” she said, adding that the accused obtained a forced confession from her.

The Rajasthan police on Sunday had filed an FIR against six of its cops including the axed SHO of Sardarshahar for the alleged custodial gang-rape. The officials, however, claimed that a team of doctors who had examined the woman did not find any injuries on her private parts.

“What do they (police and leaders) know about extent cruelty meted out to me. My injuries are evidence to the crime,” she said, adding that she is still suffering from pain in her eyes, arms and legs. Her husband, who is still recovering from the trauma of his brother’s death and his wife’s medical condition said that it has been a harrowing week for the family.

“For past several days we are in this hospital, despite that nobody has come even to offer two words of consolation. Nothing has changed for us,” he said. The civil rights activists have demanded that woman should be produced before the court in proper security arrangements.

“The state police have assured us that she will be taken to the court with in a security cover so that she could give her statements without any fear,” said Sunil Kranti, an activist based in Jaipur.