Being ostracised at Nari Niketan,says rape victim
HC gives UT one week to produce rehabilitation scheme prepared,if any,for victims.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given the Chandigarh Administration a week to produce the rehabilitation scheme prepared,if any,for victims. Also,the Administration has been asked to explain why the scheme has not been made available to the victims,so far.
The directions were passed earlier this week by Justice Rajiv Narain Raina of the High Court on a petition filed by a rape victim. The 28-year-old,hailing from Hoshiarpur,who is at present residing at Nari Niketan had moved an application alleging that she was being denied access to the outside world. Filing an application through her counsel,Anil Malhotra,the victim highlighted the apathetic conditions prevailing at Nari Niketan,Sector 26,Chandigarh.
The victim and her year-old daughter was given shelter at Nari Niketan,as per the orders of the high court. She also alleged that her mobile phone was taken away and she was not allowed to access the internet,and her personal belongings and daughter’s toys were also confiscated.
In the application,Malhotra has stated that,“At Nari Niketan,there is Swawtamban Vocational Training Centre Swadhak Shelter Home for Women,Sector 26,Chandigarh,which is supposed to be a shelter home-cum-vocational training centre for women and it also has a residential area,but the centre is non-functional”.
On his request,the court made the Director Social Welfare,Chandigarh Administration,a respondent to the petition. Notices have been issued to the director seeking a reply by March 15. He raised the issue of rehabilitation policy,yet to be made functional by the Chandigarh Administration. It was also brought to the notice of the court that the Haryana government had notified the scheme which might be called for. To this,the high court issued notices to the Advocate General of Haryana.
The victim,last year,had moved the high court seeking registration of a criminal case and its transfer to an independent investigating agency outside Punjab,besides seeking police protection,DNA test to ascertain paternity of female child and rehabilitative aid.
After a female child was born to the rape victim on November 29,2011,the victim made repeated attempts to the police and administrative authorities in Punjab to register a criminal case against the accused.
In May 2012,the unwed mother approached the high court,following which,in August 2012,an FIR was registered at the Mahilpur police station of Hoshiarpur district on charges of rape and criminal intimidation. Directing the Punjab Police to arrest the accused,the court had ordered that the victim and her daughter be given refuge at Nari Niketan. The accused is yet to be arrested as the police apprised the court that he fled the country.
The victim,on the other hand,alleged that she continued to receive threatening calls from the accused and his accomplices. She has also stated that she was being ostracised at Nari Niketan. An issue raised by Malhotra includes,“Why are 30-35 inmates of all categories accommodated in three rooms at Nari Niketan”.
He has also alleged that the rape victim was being kept under inhuman conditions with her daughter,and was denied proper diet and clothing.
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