‘Victim’ says police forced her to file charges against godman
WOMEN ACTIVISTS SAID 23YEAROLD LAW STUDENT WAS FORCED TO CHANGE HER INITIAL STATEMENT TO PROTECT THE ACCUSED GODMAN
In a new twist to the Kerala bobbitisation case, the woman, who allegedly chopped off genitals of a “godman” while resisting his rape attempt, demanded a CBI probe into the incident, accusing police of forcing her to give statements against the accused.
The bizarre case, which grabbed headlines, has witnessed a few twists and turns since the incident took place on May 18.
The 23-year-old law student had initially told the police that she cut off genitals of 52-year-old G Theerthapada alias Sreehari (godman) in self-defence when he made sexual advances towards her.
Many including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had lauded her act.
The woman had told police that the self-styled godman had been raping her since she was a minor.
The swami, however, had told doctors that he himself had tried to sever his penis.
After retracting her earlier statement, the woman on Saturday submitted a fresh petition before the special court dealing with cases under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act), demanding the CBI probe as she “lost faith” in the state police.
However, police suspect a foul play saying she was forced to retract her earlier statement under pressure.
Earlier, the woman in a letter to the defence lawyer claimed that she had never attacked the “godman” and blamed three former aides of Theerthapada of hatching a conspiracy.
She alleged that one of the three aides, Ayyappadas, had attacked the so-called godman.
She also claimed that she was forced to sign a statement prepared by the police and she was not aware of its content.
Since the lower court has no jurisdiction to order a CBI probe, the case is likely to be referred to a high court.
Women activists said she was forced to change her initial statement to protect the godman.
The first twist in the case came last month when the woman’s mother, in a letter to Kerala Police, said her daughter was not of sound mental health and that the swami had never harassed her.
The case has attracted national attention and there was uproar when police tried to register a case against the woman for attacking the “godman.”
Congress MP and author Shashi Tharoor was trolled for suggesting that the woman should have approached the police instead of taking law into her hands. The investigating team has also approached the court seeking a lie-detection test and brain-mapping tests on the student. Her frequent change of statements has put the investigation team in a fix. “Since the woman is changing her statements and it will affect the investigation, we have to have a scientific investigation so that truth will come out,” City Police commissioner, G Sparjan Kumar, told news agency PTI.
A teenage girl, who was travelling from Fatehgarh in Punjab to Dhampur town of Bijnore district, was gangraped by three youths near Saharanpur station on Friday when she deboarded the train to purchase a water bottle on the station.
Police arrested all three accused from Doodhli Sarak and Mahipura villages of Saharanpur and registered a case against them.
Saharanpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) said that rape was not confirmed in the medical examination. He added that the police had nonetheless registered a case on the girl’s complaint.
“We registered a case and initiated action against the accused on the basis of the girl’s statement. The girl was handed over to her parents on Saturday morning,” he said.
The incident occurred in the wee hours on Friday when the girl, who belongs to a village of Fatehgarh in Punjab, was travelling in the train with her younger brother and grandparents to attend a religious programme in Dhampur.
The train stopped at Saharanpur station at 2.30 am on Friday and girl deboarded the train with her brother to purchase a water bottle.
Meanwhile, train started moving and her brother got into it but she missed the train.
While she was wandering on the platform one Danish, Tahsim and his friend approached her and took her to an abandoned place on Dehradun Road after assuring her help. There they allegedly raped her and escaped.
The girl somehow reached to the nearby police station and narrated her horrific tale to the cops, who managed to arrest the accused with the help of the details provided by the girl.
THE ACCUSED TOOK THE GIRL TO AN ABANDONED PLACE AND RAPED HER AFTER SHE FAILED TO GET BACK ON THE TRAIN