3 convicted of rape that shook Rajasthan

NEW DELHI: A court in Rajasthan on Friday convicted three people for the rape and suicide of a Dalit girl in a college in 2016 — a case that had sparked widespread public anger and conversations on caste discrimination and women’s safety.

The 17-year-old girl, the daughter of a primary school teacher in Rajasthan’s far-flung Barmer district, was found dead inside a water tank on the roof of her college. Her parents alleged that a teacher raped her, and accused the college authorities of trying to hide the crime by making her sign a statement defending the teacher.

The district court in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district convicted Pragya Prateek Shukla, the principal of the college where the victim studied, his wife Priya Shukla, the warden of the hostel where the victim resided, and Vijendra Singh, the physical education teacher who raped the victim.

“After five years, justice has been served, especially in a case involving a minor from an underprivileged community,” said the victim’s lawyer, Anwar Ahmed.

Singh was convicted for abetment to suicide, abduction, rape, and under sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

Pragya Prateek Shukla and Priya Shukla were convicted for abetment of suicide and under the SC/ST and Pocso acts. A copy of the judgment had not been uploaded till the time of going to print. The lawyers for the convicted said that they will wait for the written order before deciding on appealing the conviction. The sentencing for the three was set for Monday. The maximum punishment they face is the death sentence.

“According to us, there was no natural evidence to convict them. To maintain discipline in an institution, the management has to take some steps. Definitely we are considering appealing in the high court,” said Vivek Sharma, who represented the Shuklas. Singh’s lawyer, Raviratan Godara, refused to comment.

THE CRIME

The victim hailed from a remote village just a couple of kilometers from the India-Pakistan border, and was the first Dalit girl in the region to pursue higher education.

She got admitted to a college roughly 400km away to pursue a Basic School Training Certificate and moved to stay in a hostel, according to case documents and police first information report (FIR) seen by HT, and corroborated by the victim’s lawyers. At the time, the girl was hailed as a model to be followed in the remote region and inspired many other girls to study, said her family.

But in college, the young student started facing discrimination, the family told the police, after the principal and the warden of the hostel repeatedly made her clean teachers’ rooms, especially that of the physical education teacher Singh.

She was in her second year when tragedy struck. On March 28, the victim’s father travelled from their village to the college to drop her off at the hostel around 11am at the end of the Holi vacation, according to the FIR. That night, around 8pm, she called him back.

“She told me that the hostel warden Priya Shukla sent her to Vijendra Singh’s room on the pretext of cleaning it, and there he raped her. Later, he threatened to kill her if she told anyone,” the father told the police at the time.

Around 8am the next morning, her body was found floating in the water tank of the building.

“From the beginning, we wanted to hold the Shuklas accountable, along with Singh, for their role in making the minor victim sign a document that made the incident look like her fault,” said Ahmed.

The documents in question — called “mafinama” in court records — were two statements signed by the victim and Singh, respectively, and addressed to the principal and warden. The victim was forced to sign the document when she brought the rape to the attention of the principal and the warden, the family told police. “I made a mistake, and please forgive me for it,” said the coerced statement of the victim, who was allegedly forced to write it by the Shuklas.

“Instead of supporting the victim (a minor and a Scheduled Caste girl), the accused Priya Shukla, the warden, and her husband Pragya Pratik Shukla, the principal, shamed her by forcing her to write an apology in the middle of the night. The accused were in a position of power (as in-charge of the institute), who misused their authority in contravention of the law,” said the written submissions made by the victim in court.

THE TRIAL

The case triggered uproar across the state, and put the then BJP government under pressure, with top Opposition leaders making a beeline for the remote border village where the victim’s family lived.

But delays dogged the investigation, and trial finally began in Bikaner in 2017 – this meant that the victim’s father had to travel 400km from Barmer district for every court hearing.

As the trial progressed, other challenges emerged, showed case documents and conversations with lawyers. At least 10 witnesses listed by the police turned hostile in court, dealing a blow to the prosecution.

“Many of these witnesses were either students in the college or employees of the institution, and therefore were liable to be pressured by the accused at the time,” said Ahmed.

Such problems in cases involving Dalits are common across India, and especially in Rajasthan, where roughly 50% of cases under the SC/ST Act don’t reach the charge sheet stage. This is the worst rate among major states, according to NCRB data.

The victim’s lawyers, instead, focused on documentary and other evidence. They proved that on the night of the crime, there were only four people in the premises and accounted for all of them, and additionally proved that all gates were locked – meaning only Singh could have had access the girl’s hostel.

They were also helped by the forensic report, which HT has a copy of, which showed that traces of semen were found on the victim’s clothes, bedspread and underclothes. The medical examiner also said that the victim’s body showed signs of recent forced intercourse.

“What stood in our favour was that the victim’s roommate, who was also a minor, was the only major witness who didn’t turn hostile. She withstood all pressure to say that the victim told her that night that she was raped,” said Ahmed.

In the five years between the crime and the conviction, a lot changed. A new government came into power and named the Dalit-dominated village, where the family lived, after the victim. The father, who was a vocal proponent of education for girls in the area, fell silent. And, many young women in the area stopped going away for higher education, stymied by the grisly crime and fearful families.

This judgment, hope experts and activists, will change that.

“This is a very important judgment given that cases involving Dalits fall through the cracks many times...,” said Anurag Bhaskar, a professor at Jindal Global Law School.

“It is a message to all girls who want to pursue education, that they need not fear,” said Ahmed.