Rape Survivor Commits Suicide in Bareilly Village

Lucknow: A rape survivor committed suicide in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh after five of the accused were granted bail. The girl, belonging to the Dalit community, was raped two years ago and experienced severe trauma. The main accused was arrested and sent to jail.

Speaking to local media, the victim's father stated that the accused, belonging to a different community, had kidnapped the girl and pressured her for conversion. Based on the father's complaint, the police registered a case against six accused, and the investigating officer submitted a chargesheet.

Five of the accused recently came out of jail, while the main accused remains incarcerated. While the victim's father links the suicide to the rape case, the police deny this connection. Speaking to The Mooknayak, Sitanshu Sharma, the SHO of Visaratganj Police station, said, "There is a significant time gap between the rape and the suicide, and there is no link between the two. Villagers are saying that there was an internal dispute in the family." When asked about the accused who were released on bail, he mentioned that they were juveniles, and the main accused is still in jail.

Police Apathy Driving People to Suicide ?

This is not the first case where a rape victim or a family member has committed suicide. There have been several similar cases in the past. On June 6th, in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh, the father of a minor rape victim committed suicide due to the delay in filing a case. The daughter was raped in the Akodhi village of Jalaun in April. After the daughter informed her parents about the incident, her father filed a police complaint, but there was a delay in registering the FIR.

On June 21st, a 16-year-old Dalit girl, an alleged rape victim, committed suicide. The accused, Sonu, was arrested, but the girl's family members alleged that he had been threatening the victim to withdraw the case. The girl took her own life before she could record her statement.

In a related incident in Unnao, a 14-year-old rape survivor and her mother were beaten, their house was set on fire, and their child (born out of rape) was thrown into the flames when the survivor refused to strike a compromise with the rapists, two of whom were released on bail.

The Insensitivity of the Police Appalling

Speaking to The Mooknayak, Madhu Garg, who runs an organization called the Mahila Samiti, expressed her dismay at the apathy of the police in rape cases. She said, "In most instances, girls hesitate to speak up, and when they do inform their parents, the parents face numerous hardships in getting the FIR registered. Victims are tragically committing suicide in Barabanki, Pilibhit, Bareilly, Sitapur, and other places due to the failure of the police. This emboldens the perpetrators of the crime. We recently staged a protest on this issue."