A schoolgirl studying in ninth grade, who was allegedly raped by a police officer last year, has stopped going to school and tuition classes as the accused has threatened her to withdraw the complaint or be prepared to “face the worst.”
Ironically, the Police have not initiated any action against the accused SHO, Vijay Chowdhary and he continues to head the same Bagh-e-Bahu police station where the crime allegedly took place on January 5, 2016. The accused happens to be the brother of a lawmaker from the ruling coalition government in the state.
The victim recently addressed the media to narrate her woeful tale. The girl said that she was raped by the SHO when her mother was falsely implicated and detained in the police station over a local feud. “Many others from the locality were also detained that day. When I visited the police station to offer food and clothes to my mother, (SHO) Vijay Chowdhary raped me,” the girl claimed.
The incident has left her shattered. “I had turned mad as to what has happened with me. I decided to teach him a lesson by registering a complaint. From filing a complaint with the police station to intimating DGP about the crime, I did everything but no one came to my rescue.”
In fact, the girl says the accused, who continues to be in power at the same police station has framed her mother in another “fake case” related to “flesh trade.” The girl said that her mother is behind the bars for around six months. “As people got an air of all these false allegations, they tauntd me and assumed that we have done something wrong. My career and life are ruined for no fault of mine.”
The victim says the “height of injustice” is that while she has been confined to the four walls of her room, the accused moves scot-free with all power. “I am scared of moving out as he waylays me. He (SHO) has threatened me that one day I will myself walk to him to withdraw my complaint with folded hands. I am really scared.”
Though around a year has passed, the Police have not initiated any action. Many allege that the accused enjoys the patronage of his brother, Surinder Chowdhary, who is a Member of Legislative Council. But the MLC denies the charges and says that the girl’s family is to be blamed.
“This is a concocted story to settle scores. We come from a very respectable family. I would request you either not to carry the news or to verify the credentials of the girl and her mother as the latter is already behind the bars for something really shady which I cannot tell you on phone,” the MLC says adding that the Police can give the best viewpoint.
Inspector General of Police, Jammu range, Dr SD Singh didn’t comment when asked if the department was under any influence. But he said that he would look into the matter himself. “I have asked for an explanation from SSP(Jammu). I will be able to tell you about this after a few days,” the IGP told InUth. The accused SHO, on the other hand, didn’t respond to the phone calls.
Meanwhile, a senior official in the state’s women rights commission said that such complaints have been on an all time rise as the Police are often unwilling to initiate any action if the accused happen to be “powerful and mighty.” Last year the Police remained silent over alleged molestation of a medico at Government Medical College Jammu by a top official till some lawmakers from Ladakh raised a hue and cry in the Assembly and he was finally arrested.
