AIDWA makes a documentary on Ashiana rape case
Long before the Nirbhaya case shocked the nation, it was the rape of a 13-yearold girl in a moving car in Lucknow that left the City of Nawabs stunned.
The case came to be known as the Ashiana rape case and the rape victim Zahira (name changed) fought an 11-year long battle against the ac- cused, faced social stigma and even completed her education.
Zahira, now 25 years old, has a documentary on her ordeal. The 22-minute-long documentary by All India Democratic Women’s Association is being released on the fifth anniversary of the infamous Nirbhaya gang rape case and talk about struggles of rape survivors.
On 2 May 2005, Zahira, the 13-year-old daughter of a scrap dealer, was abducted when she was returning home. She was beaten up, tortured, burnt with cigarette butts and brutally raped in a moving car in Aashiana before being dumped on the outskirts of the city by six boys from affluent families.
Five of the accused were convicted after 10 years of legal battle. Conviction of the sixth and prime accused, Gaurav Shukla, came in April 2016 when he was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Shukla had for long got himself declared juvenile. However, his claims were proved false in court and the case was fast tracked in 2015.
The grit, determination and turmoil of Zahira have been documented in the film that has been directed by Rishi Srivastava, convener of the Kalam Sanskritik Manch.
Titled, The Saga of Struggle, the story revolves around Zahira, the incident and her fight for justice against the accused who were politically well connected. It also attempts to capture the public movement and the many organisations that had joined the cause of justice for her.
State president of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) Madhu Garg said, “It has been a tumultu- ous decade for the young girl but she has strongly fought through it all. She was ecstatic when she recently received her first salary ( Zahira now works for Mahila Samakhya, a women’s initiative). She offered us sweets and sent a major part of the sum to her father in Assam.”
AIDWA has been helping Zahira in picking up the threads of life and also in her legal battle. Humour is the spice of life—more so if it is served with tangy titles that come with mouth watering kebabs and delicious desserts.
Setting aside hostilities and tensions, the UP bureaucracy renewed the camaraderie in the cadre with their annual service dinner, held as a part of the “IAS Week”.
Political loyalties and differences, one-upmanship and bitterness melted away as the officers opened the menu card in which the titles were printed.
Though the titles relied almost completely on Bollywood songs, they effectively managed to convey the message.
For the amiable Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar, who returned from Central deputation to take over the top job, the title was “Aap aaye, bahaar aayi”.
Additional Chief Secretary R.K. Tiwari and Commissioner Commercial Tax Mukesh Meshram were jointly given the title, “Gabbar Singh Tax”. The two were responsible for implementing GST in the state.
Three senior IAS officers, R.P. Singh, Anup Chandra Pandey and Sanjay Agarwal got the title “Hum bhi khade hain raahon mein”, an obvious reference to the fact that they are strong claimants to the chief secretary’s post after the present incumbent retires.
“Raat baki, baat baki, file, meeting ho jaane do” was the title given to S.P. Goyal, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. He is obviously overworked while Rigzian Sampheal, the officer, who was secretary in Akhilesh Yadav’s secretariat and has continued in the same post in the present regime, was given the title “Badal jaye agar mali, chaman hota nahin khali”.
The ever busy Awanish Awasthi, Principal Secretary Information and Tourism, got “Subho sham kaam hi kaam, kyon nahin lete piya pyar ka naam”.
Pilibhit district magistrate Sheetal Varma, who was recently seen wearing a saffron sari during CM Yogi Adityanath’s visit to the district, was aptly given the title “Rang de tu mohe gerua”.
Five senior officers who returned from Central deputation— Sanjay Bhoosreddy, Prashant Trivedi, Alok Kumar, Alok Tandon and Manoj Kumar Singh—were welcomed with “Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai, nahin to chiragon se lau jaa rahi thi”. Three officers who have come to UP from other states’ cadres—Himanshu Kumar, Kalpana Awasthi and T. Venkatesh—were conferred the title “main to chhod aayi babul ka desh, piya ka ghar pyara lage”.