Women

The endless Agony
"The police categorically told us that since we were not the ones who were molested and ; there were too many men it was not possible to recognise and arrest them. We requested them that the FIR can surely be lodged on somebody's behalf, since it happened in a public place. No luck. Next time, when our group went again to the police station, they said, so where all did the guys touch them? It was so embarrassing," she says
Now if the police has behaved like this in the capital of India, where will the other girls go ?"

After two weeks, the JACG met the then Union human resource development minister Arjun Singh. They also approached the National Commission for Women (NCW). Two weeks later, an FIR was lodged. "How come the delayed FIR was lodged this time? The atmosphere in the police station was very intimidating. The police did not seem approachable at all. Even the women constables were of no help. They were rude and asked all sorts of questions which made no sense," says Rashi.

Beena Thakkar (name changed) was frequently abused by her husband. She had gone back to her parents' home several times, but had to come back to her husband's house since her parents insisted that "like all women she should make adjustments". "One day, he came back home drunk and forced me to have sex with him. I didn't want to. He beat me up. That day it was so severe that I went to the nearby police station. There was no woman official there. I was highly uncomfortable telling all the details. My FIR was not lodged. The experience was traumatic. Maybe it's because they knew my in-laws," says Beena stoically.

Beena, now a 'contract teacher' in a government school in Delhi and divorced, has come a long way. She is trying to find her feet again with great difficulty, but at least she does not have to face the violence of that man day after day. But she has little faith in the government, or the police. She is on her own, like many other women survivors of male violence in this country.

See related story by our team member ; at: http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2010/02/3442#sthash.bZfso4WW.dpuf
More stories to come