Poll Violation, Twice Over

Certainly even in a state that routinely witnesses numbing violence, her case stands out. It dates back to the summer of 1994 in the village of Chuvarliya, Rajgarh district. According to the government inquiry report submitted to the Vidhan Sabha, it all happened after the victim’s husband, a Dalit, earned the local sarpanch’s wrath.

The husband was dragged from his fields, tied to an electric pole and beaten to death in the presence of his wife. The whole village stood and watched. She was molested, stripped naked and paraded through the village. She was then taken to the sarpanch’s house where she was urinated upon and raped.

The inquiry also recommended a case against the police. After the incident the villagers, terrified of the sarpanch, fled. The police duly arrived and stole silver from the abandoned houses, finally extorting money to let the villagers return.

IT was perhaps to repair an image battered by reports such as these that the police held a press conference in August to highlight its commitment to the rights of women.

The Bhopal SP, Arun Pratap Singh, paraded a journalist, S.S. Asthana, before the assembled media. He pointed to the prompt arrest of the accused after a schoolteacher complained of sexual exploitation over a period of several years.

A month later the school teacher went public with allegations that Asthana had forced her to have sexual relations with several retired and serving IAS and Forest Service officers.

An inquiry by the National Commission of Women (NCW) concluded, ‘‘The victim could not resist. She was threatened that if she complained to anyone about the sexual assault then her nude photographs would be published …

‘‘Under fear, she was made to accede to his repeated demands. In that process she was introduced and offered for being sexually exploited to other accused persons who were all well known to Asthana …

‘‘She was asked … why the names of the other accused were not disclosed by her to the police … she explained that other accused were influential officers …

‘‘However, later, on considering the conduct, behaviour and activities of other accused persons who were out to defame the victim, she decided that her suffering had reached a peak and that she must reveal the names.’’

NEITHER case deals with issues that can be made light of. In both, subsequent developments have reflected badly on the very people who have sought publicity at the expense of the victims. In some measure the two events also encapsulate the problem the Madhya Pradesh voter faces in election 2003.

Since the rally, the BJP has been on the defensive over the presence of the rape victim on the dais. Moments after she left, the prime minister got up to give what should have been one of the more memorable speeches of this campaign.

For a few days it forced Digvijay onto the defensive. For a few days it forced both the Congress and the BJP to speak about roads and power supply, or the lack thereof, in the state.

But already human rights groups were expressing outrage at this attempt to extract public mileage out of rape. And then it got worse. Digvijay has always known that the best way to counter criticism is to deflect it, and the BJP gave him a readymade opportunity.

At a press conference just days after the rally, he accused the BJP of depositing Rs 1 lakh in a bank account in the victim’s name to ensure her presence on stage. The BJP admitted the money had been deposited but denied this was politically motivated.

BJP chief ministerial aspirant Uma Bharti’s defence only made things worse. She said she had not identified the woman as a rape victim at the rally. She charged Congress leaders with besmirching the hapless Dalit’s reputation by their use of the term ‘‘rape’’.

There was just one problem. The BJP’s own charge sheet — ‘‘Apradhon ka saikda paar, das saal ka bantadhar’’ — states under the section titled ‘‘Mahila utpidan mein pradesh ko desh mein no 1 banane wali nirlajj sarkar’’ that the victim was paraded naked through Chuvarliya village in Digvijay’s former constituency, Rajgarh, and then raped.

Uma claimed she was not aware this had been cited in her own charge sheet against Digvijay!

Even the most charitable interpretation of the episode has left the voter faced with the prospect of a chief ministerial candidate who is her own worst enemy. Who has through her own doings ensured the attention strays every time the campaign threatens to focus on the failings of Digvijay raj.

IT is not an easy quandary for the voter. The Bhopal police’s subsequent actions in the second case illustrate why there is no groundswell for a third term for Digvijay either.

Once the names of senior bureaucrats surfaced, the same SP who has never shirked from hogging the media limelight now wants to have nothing to do with the case, ‘‘We have not received the NCW report. We have read the names in the media but where is the evidence? Even the chairman of the NCW was convinced that this woman had added the names later.

‘‘Instead of falsely allegating (sic) names of officers she should have come to us. She should give us evidence, or she could have just sent a registered letter to us. She is an educated woman and we can only go by her written statement.’’

Quite apart from the fact that her written complaint was received and acknowledged by the chief minister’s office, the SP’s claim is contradicted by his own subordinate, investigation officer Usha Tewari.

‘‘We have already presented the challan against Asthana,’’ Tewari says, ‘‘we have details regarding stay at hotels and guest houses which tally with what the victim has told us.’’ Asked about the officers named by the complainant, Tewari hedged but finally admitted, ‘‘Yes she has named these officers before us. I have written to the DDP (deputy director. prosecution) seeking legal advice.’’

FOR the voters of Madhya Pradesh, this is a familiar pattern. An administration quick to hype minor achievements and extract as much publicity as possible. But when it comes to delivering on the ground, nothing really happens.

Digvijay’s response also has been typical. Despite an indictment of his officials by a constitutional body, the NCW, he has preferred to look the other way.

It is an approach he has adopted often enough — when ministers were indicted by the lokayukta, when senior bureaucrats found themselves mired in corruption cases. Unsurprisingly, one of those indicted by the NCW still continues to be a Congress spokesperson in the state.