Case in Brief:

Rama got married to Sanjeeva Goud, s/oRaju Ganga Goud 7 years back.  They have a daughter.  Everything was fine for one year.  He used to travel to Dubai on work.  Later he started having extra marital affairs with other women in Dubai.  From then he started harassing her physically and mentally.  He started consuming alcohol.  He abused everyone who came to her rescue.  He tried to kill her twice when he was drunk.  Once he poured kerosene and once he put his leg on her throat and tried to kill her.  When she questioned him why he is doing all this, he said that she is dark, she is not beautiful and so if she dies, he can marry another woman.  He is also harassing her to write a letter that she has no objection for his second marriage. 

Two years ago he had extra marital with another woman and her family filed a case against him and Rama gave surety on his behalf and got him out of the police station.  Later he had affair with another woman.  Now he is saying that he is warning her finally that if she does not agree he will kill her and marry another woman.  Also, her father-in-law and mother-in-law harass her along with her husband for additional dowry. 

This case was settled at the village level.  The victim was given Rs.25, 000/- by her husband’s family. 

As per the statements given by the victims, witnesses and officials, it is found that the village Mahinava which is under Maner police station in the district of Patna consists of 609 families (Pasi-5; Julaha-25; Kaju-6; Teli-5; Nai-10; Carpenter-8; Dusadh-50; Ravidas-100 and Yadav-400 families). The village is dominated by Yadav Community since they are economically and politically strong. They own their own land. Whereas others especially Pasi families have no land whose traditional occupation is to sell “Tori” extracted from the Tori trees which they still continue to do so.

However the victim Bhola Choudhari (60) s/o late Khemchand Choudhary, belongs to the Pasi community who carries out the traditional occupation of selling “Tori” and with the income he feeds his family members. His family consists of his wife Rampuri Devi (55) and five children. They all depend upon the only soul earning member of the family who has been victimized by some unknown perpetrators. Bhola Choudhari used to earn his livelihood by selling “Tori”. While doing so he had invited many petty quarrels with the customers but no past enmities were acknowledged by him when statements were taken.

Moreover it was difficult to identify the perpetrators who came from his behind and attacked him when he was on his way back home after fulfilling the natural call at 11pm on 21.8.2006 in Mahinava village. By the time he could identify the two of the perpetrators, they tied his eyes with cloth and crammed a piece of cloth into his mouth and later gauged his eyes out with knives and ran away. He fell unconscious due to unbearable pain. When he did not return his home for more than a half an hour, his wife Rampuri Devi went out to call him back home. She found that her husband was sighing with pain. She immediately ran to him and cried for his help. On hearing the cry of Rampuri Devi, the neighbours came out and took him to Maner hospital from where he was referred to Patna Medical College Hospital. He was admitted for almost 10 days.

Meanwhile the SHO Md. Kaisar Alam (45), Maner police station and DSP Pramod Kumar Mandal (46), Danapur, Patna, visited the victim in the PMCH for the statement. The victim was unable to tell the name of the perpetrators since he was unable to identify them in the darkness. It was therefore registered a case against the unknown perpetrators under 341, 342, 324, 326, 307 and 34 IPC on 22.8.2006. On the very day the medical test was completed. The DSP had given him Rs 1000 as a medical help and the villagers had contributed Rs. 1500 for his medical expenses irrespective of castes. No Compensation has been given. No perpetrators have been arrested. In order to make inquiries, the police had taken a person into custody. Charge sheet is not submitted in the district court. The case is still under investigation. 

Tetali Satyakala, D/o Oleti Raju, aged 19 years, R/o ILTD Watchman Quarters, Anaparthi; East Godavari district was undergoing Staff Nurse Training in the year 2005. She was a Dalit. Tetali Rajesh Reddy, S/o China Venkata Reddy, aged 20 years, R/o Anaparthi, East Godavari district was an inoccigible stalker, he promised to marry her. On 16th November 2005, Rajesh Reddy threatened that he would die if Satyakala refuses to marry him. He took her to Bhadrachalam and married her. They rented a room near a Hanuman temple in Bhadrachalam and started living there. After some days, Rajesh’s friend Shiva Reddy a financier started visiting Rajesh’s house whenever he came to Bhadrachalam for his business purpose.  Slowly he became a link between Rajesh and his parents. One day Rajesh’s mother told Satyakala on the phone that, “Whatever has happened is past.  Leave my son.”  Satyakala was shell-shocked, she wept. She pleaded her mother-in-law to not separate her from her husband. On 24^th  July 2006, Rajesh Reddy left the city. He said that that Tetali Rama Reddy, their relative and MLA had asked him to come and join a job.  Rajesh never returned back to Satyakala. Satyakala waited for three days, she was unable to answer the queries of her neighbors. She consumed pesticide. Subsequently the Police was informed. The Police filed a case and Satyakala’s parents were informed. They brought their daughter back to Anaparthi and they called Rajesh’s parents. They did not respond and Satyakala complained in the Anaparthi Police Station on 16th August 2006. The Police refused to register the case in the beginning but with the interference of Dalit Sthree Sakthi, a case was registered on 18^th August 2006. 

The Police took Rajesh’s parents and his friend Shiva Reddy into custody on 26^th August 2006.  Rajesh’s relatives threatened Satyakala, so she gave a representation to the District Magistrate asking for protection of her life. The magistrate said that he would take immediate action.  A representation was given to the Joint Collector on the same day.  As the Magistrate and Joint Collector took immediate action, Rajesh Reddy surrendered in the court on 30^th August 2006.  On 31^st August 2006, Satyakala met Rajesh Reddy while he was in remand.  Rajesh refused to recognize their marriage and conjugal life.  On 4^th September 2006, Satyakala said that if Rajesh agrees to register their marriage, she would take back her case.  Even then Rajesh did not agree. On 4^th October 2006, a representation was given to the SP to alter the provisions in the FIR.  Satyakala was sent for medical examination.  Presently Rajesh, his parents and friend Shiva Reddy are out on bail.  The accused, Tetali Rajesh Reddy is still refusing to consummate the marriage. Rajesh Reddy and the other accused persons were arrested and released on bail. The case is pending in the Court.

The Bihar police on 22 August, 2006 , finally   registered   complaints   of  seven   Dalit women, who were earlier denied justice despite claiming  that  they  had been gang raped in Suryagarha village of Lakhisarai district by local landlords,  and  ordered  the district police to frame rape charges against the four accused. According   to   reports, Four Dalit women of a Bihar village were allegedly raped by powerful landed upper caste men of their village last week, but the police have refused to register their compliant. The women, from very poor families of Ramnagar-Gopalpur village in Lakhisarai district, were raped at gunpoint on Aug 6 night by a local land owner and his goons to teach them a lesson for refusing to vote for a woman candidate - the wife of an upper caste landowner - during the Panchayat (village council) elections in June.

The local police turned away the women when they went to file a complaint and the local administration behaved indifferently too. The women had gone to Patna to seek justice, but their efforts to move the state administration during the last four days had yielded no results so far.

Therefore they approached Manju Prakash, chairman of the Bihar state women commission when the local police refused to take action against the accused. The women told Prakash that they were raped because they had refused to cast their votes in favour of a particular candidate. Even their men were beaten, humiliated and threatened with being killed when they rushed to save them. They have named Bipin Singh and his henchmen for the rape. What shocked the victims was that police refused to register a case against Singh and forcibly drove us away.

Consequently the Dalits of the village protested the rape by blocking the roads but were assaulted by the Block Development Officer, who ordered that the protestors be arrested, including an 80-year-old man and local police lathicharged the mob.  When the women approached a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe police station, the police only registered a case of assault, not of rape.

On the contrary, along with their children, the women came to Patna and met Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, both central ministers from Bihar, to seek justice. While Lalu Prasad had assured that he would raise their case and fight for them, Paswan too promised them help. They also met former chief minister and leader of opposition Rabri Devi. They filed an FIR (First Information Report), but the police did not file a rape case. The women have not gone for a medical checkup also. They came here for justice as the police were not taking action against the culprits. Victim did not get compensation.  No TA/DA to victim and witness. Perpetrators were in jail for 6 months but now bailed out.