Woman in shock after three years of harassment by uncles, says she’s become numb from the ordeal

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After seeing the discomfort on his sister’s face, who was visibly uncomfortable and embarrassed to talk in front of her brother about her ordeals, he left her alone when this reporter met her.

She is special for her 30-year-old brother since she is the only sister he has after two other brothers who are farm labourers like him.

The woman, who never went to school nor could figure out when she got pregnant, offered water and said, “This is the home I was brought up by my parents and my uncles often visited me. I played on their lap. I was like their daughter.”

After a long pause, she said, “The first time they raped me, I cried for help and didn’t eat for two days. I have become numb now. They all tell me that I have lost my mental balance because they see me smile sometimes. What do I do? I am smiling because I got freedom after I delivered that baby and my brother got them put behind bars.”

The distance between her brother’s house from the house of her uncles is hardly 50 to 80 metres, yet the two uncles, known to have an upper hand in the family, held her captive in that house, assaulted her and repeatedly raped her.
She said, “They were like animals. One of them used to keep me tied to the bed and rape me when the other was at the field.

Their house was inside the field so there was hardly any distance between home and fields. I was not allowed even to go to the fields to relieve myself.”

The “house of horror” is in the middle of the agriculture fields at Jalampura village. However, it was neither opened to her parents nor her brothers. The villagers who worked at the field used to stay away from the house for fear of being killed by the accused, who are known for their alleged violent behaviour.

The Jalampura village is dominated by Koli Patels. Though the villagers sympathise with her family, they could help the victim’s brother only after the woman was hospitalised for delivery.

She said, “I didn’t even known what pregnancy was all about. When my stomach started growing big, one of them took me to a local doctor outside the village who said I was going to be a mother. They used to rape me even during the pregnancy and sometimes both of them together,” and broke down.

A visibly distraught brother who heard her cry walked in and said, “They dragged her out of her husban’s house in the neighbouring village and took her to their house. They first told us that since her marriage has been broken let her stay with them, she can help them in household chores and cook food. However, after a week, when I went to meet her, they threw me out of the house and threatened me.”

The victim was married to a farm labourer in a neighbouring village in Chaitra month of Gujarati calendar. However, within 10 days of her marriage, the uncles had fought with her husband. They had allegedly told the husban’s family that the girl was unfit for their family. The family stated that the marriage vows were taken in a community marriage and dissolved at Jalampura in the presence of the panch (witnesses from village) where the husban’s family reportedly claimed that the girl was unfit for the family.

The brother said, “My uncles, who never married, had an eye on her ever since she grew up. After they got her separated, they wanted to have her in their house as their ‘keep’. They didn’t want to marry her off. They wanted her to cook, clean and serve them.”

The brother had made several attempts to rescue his sister but of no avail. He was even thrashed with sticks by the accused when he dared to approach the police to complain during the first year of her captivity.

After that, the brother saw her three years later at a government hospital in Kadi taluka of Mehsana district in the first week of April when she delivered a baby. He came to know about her delivery only when the villagers informed him that the duo had secretly taken her to Mehsana at night.

She said, “I had delivered a baby boy. The baby was put in another room away from me since I was not in good health. When they found out, they stole the baby from the hospital. When we couldn’t find him anywhere, my brother brought me to his house at Jalampura.”

Then the brother lodged a complaint at Viramgam rural police station on April 24 against his uncles. Sensing their arrest, they didn’t return home but fled to Sanand where they buried her new born. The police first arrested one accused while the other who was on the run after the FIR was lodged on April 28.

The victim, who has no love for the dead child, said. “I don’t even call it my child. I don’t even know who out of the two fathered that child. The shattering part is that I experienced motherhood out of rape and not out of my marriage with a man with whom I had started a new life.”

The victim’s family has all praise for the police for registering the FIR and taking swift action in arresting the accused. The police have booked the accused under Sections 376, 302 and 356 of the Indian Penal Code for raping and abducting her and murdering her new born baby.

Investigation officer and inspector of Viramgam rural police S M Ramani said, “The case shocked us ever since it was registered. The senior officers in police looked into it and we made no delay in arresting the accused. We have sent the remains of the baby’s body as well as the blood samples of both the accused for forensic tests. The experts will do a DNA test to ascertain the parentage of the child. We are awaiting the forensic test report.”