Dalit suicide- Alleged rapist held
Tanveer Kazi
Dalit suicide: Alleged rapist held
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070033576&ch=11/22/2007%209:14:00%20PM
Rubina Khan Shaapu
Thursday, November 22, 2007 (Betul, Madhya Pradesh)
It was only after a victim of serial rape took her own life that the police have taken notice and arrested the alleged rapist in Madhya Pradesh.
On Wednesday, NDTV reported how a dalit woman, who was a panchayat member, committed suicide at the local collector's office.
She said she was killing herself because nobody had acted on her complaints and that she had been repeatedly raped after she accused her
panchayat colleagues of corruption.
After fighting for justice for six years Urmilla, a Dalit from Dulariya village in Betul finally gave up consuming poison to kill herself.
As a panchayat member back in 2001, Urmila had dared to raise her voice against the alleged misdeeds of the powerful Yadav sarpanch
. As punishment she was raped in 2001 by the sarpanch's son, Kallu Yaduvanshi, but no FIR was registered.
Even though Urmila was threatened and beaten for standing up against the
sarpanch, she did not buckle and was allegedly raped a second time by the same accused in 2003.
The dalit woman again submitted many applications and finally an FIR was registered only last month but no one was arrested.
A despairing Urmila visited the Collectorate once again on Tuesday to submit another application before being rushed to hospital as the poison began to take hold.
''Why should I live? My life has become a joke. I have not got any justice, that is why I ate poison before going to the Collector's office,'' said Urmila.
She was driven to suicide because she had become the butt of vulgar jokes in her Yadav dominated village. ''Everyone in the village had been harassing her,'' said Shyam Rao, Urmilla Bai's husband.
Urmila was also frustrated by the failure to arrest the accused.
''There has been a delay in arresting the accused, though a team was sent several times. They could not find the accused,'' said V R Mahajan, police officer.
A victim of political indifference and police insensitivity, Urmila has finally ended up as just another of the ten thousand women raped in the state over the last three years with her struggle having come to naught.
--
Tanveer Kazi
National Secretary(Advocacy)
National Campaign On Dalit Human Rights
8/1,2nd Floor, South Patel Nagar
NEW DELHI-110008 ( INDIA)
Ph/ Fax:- 91-11-25842249/ 25842250
Mobile:- 09958797401
Email:- tan...@ncdhr.org
tan...@gmail.com
Website:- www.dalits.org