Sonbhadra case: ‘We have gone through a lot in the last 9 years… I can sleep in peace now knowing that the man who raped my sister is in jail’

Nine years ago, when the victim, a 15-year-old girl, had filed a rape complaint against Ramdular Gond, his wife Soortan Devi was the village head.

The victim, now 25, lives with her husband and in-laws outside Sonbhadra district.

During the trial, as Ramdular’s political career ascended – he became an MLA in 2022 – the victim’s family claims they started getting pressured to “strike a compromise”.

“Around one-and-a-half-year ago, he (Ramdular Gond) made someone call me and other family members and told us to withdraw the case. He had become an MLA by then, so we got scared. He offered us Rs 25-30 lakh in cash to withdraw the case, but we refused. He even called my sister once and told her to convince us to withdraw the case. We informed the court about this,” says the victim’s brother.

“Money can’t buy izzat (respect). Even today, his (Ramdular Gond’s) family members are threatening us, saying they will take revenge,” he adds.

The family of six — four siblings and parents — owns just a bigha of land and depends on the daily wage income of the male members of the family.

According to the family members, it was very difficult for them to pursue the case as Gond was influential, and was part of the ruling party.

“He (Ramdular Gond) got at least three false cases registered against me, and several others against those who were helping us pursue the case. Some of them decided to stop supporting us after they were booked in false cases,” says the 30-year-old brother.

According to him, Gond got two false cases lodged against him under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and one under the Goonda Act in 2015.

The woman’s family alleges that Gond raped her not once but on multiple occasions for more than a year. “My sister was a teenager then, and she got scared because the accused was influential. He (Gond) had told my sister that if she told anyone in the family, he would kill us all,” the bother says.

“On November 4, 2014, she just couldn’t bear it anymore and escaped when he tried to rape her in the field. She came to me and narrated the whole sequence of events over the year. I went to the local police station and submitted a written complaint against Gond,” he adds.

Gond was booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and under relevant provisions of the POCSO Act. During the trial, eight prosecution and three defence witnesses were examined by the court.