Jaipur:
In a case that has sent shockwaves through Rajasthan and made national headlines, police in Jaipur have arrested a paraplegic woman. The 22-year-old is charged with abetting the abduction and sexual abuse of another woman.
But the arrested woman was herself allegedly a victim of sexual abuse by policemen in January last year. She had been summoned in January last year by the police for interrogation in this case but was allegedly molested by policemen following which she attempted suicide by
jumping before a moving train leading to the disability. The suicide attempt left her 80 per cent paralysed.
Women rights groups say her arrest is an attempt to save those policemen, who are now in jail. "She has been arrested only to weaken the case against the policemen, demoralize her and break the witnesses in her case. This arrest is really shameful," said Kavita Srivastav, General Secretary of People's Union of Civil Liberties, Rajasthan.
Her mother says she is completely bed ridden and needs constant care. She says the police forced the other victim to name her daughter in the case in an attempt to save their colleagues. "The police have been pressurising us to compromise in this case. They have also been threatening us. In the exploitation of the other girl, my daughter had no role at all."
But the police refute the charges and say the arrest was made on the basis of a complaint. The complainant had alleged that the 22-year-old had conspired in her abduction and repeated sexual exploitation by six men last year. "The court had constituted a Medical Board to examine her condition. The Medical Board found that she is mentally fit though physically disabled. On that basis we questioned her and after that as she is an accused in that case we had to arrest her," said Deputy Commissioner of Jaipur Police, Mahendra Singh.
A lower court has rejected her bail plea. She is being kept in the Sawai Man Singh hospital in Jaipur.
The Rajasthan High court will now decide whether to give her bail. If she's sent to jail, this victim of sexual abuse will face the trauma of staying in the same premises where the policemen who tormented her are already lodged.