Jalamu Tharu of Pedari could not lodge a compliant against the people who raped his 15-year-old granddaughter even 11 months after the incident. His granddaughter had recorded the names of her rapists in her cell phone before committing suicide. [break]
But when he went to Area Police Office, Kohalpur, to lodge a complaint, the police misbehaved with him.
When the Kohalpur Police did finally register his complaint, sent through post office, they described the case as suicide. “Despite the cell phone evidence, the police put pressure on us to not register a rape case,” rues the victim´s mother Maya Rani.
Likewise, a migrant girl from Dailekh district was recently raped by her distant cousin in Kohalpur. Though the police registered the case, they have not initiated investigations. “The perpetrators are asking us to withdraw the case using threat as well as promises of monetary compensation,” says the victim´s mother.
Similarly, a man accused of raping a girl locking her inside a room for 18 hours, two months ago, has also been released on bail due to sloppy police investigations.
The 10th grader, who has not gone to school since the incident, is now pleading for her safety after the accused allegedly threatened to kill her. Though the police, who rescued her after breaking open the door of the room where she was locked, had taken her torn clothes as evidence, the man was released on bail by District Court “in want of sufficient evidence.”
Similarly, Jeevan Prasad Yadav, a teacher sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined Rs 50,000 for sexually abusing his students, has been absconding since the District Court pronounced the verdict six months ago.
“The victims have not been getting justice due to police indifference,” said Sunil Kumar Shrestha an advocate. “The perpetrators use various tactics such as monetary compensation, threats and character assassination to put pressure on the victims,” he added. He said lack of punishment has emboldened the offenders, resulting in the rise in the number of rape cases in the district.
As per CWIN, 39 females were raped while 127 suffered sexual abuse of some form in the district in the past one year.
Doctors say that such cases are weakened if the police do not take victims for medical check-up immediately after the incident. “We can find evidence if the victims are brought immediately. But the evidences are lost if the victims are brought much later,” said Medical Superintendent and Gynecologist at Bheri Zonal Hospital Dr Bimal Dhakal.
Chief of Banke Police Bikram Singh Thapa, on his part, said police needed to be more sensitive in cases of sexual abuse. He assured that past mistakes, if any, in the course of investigating such cases would be corrected in future.
Related story
Break taboos to reinstate rape victims
-1200x560-1779450784.webp)
