On July 10, a young woman in Araria, Bihar, refused to sign a statement written on her behalf after she finished narrating to a magistrate ...
On July 10, a young woman in Araria, Bihar, refused to sign a statement written on her behalf after she finished narrating to a magistrate how she had been raped by a group of men a few days ago. She said she could not read. She asked the judge to allow the statement to be read out to her, before she signed it.
Less than 30 minutes later, the 22-year-old rape complainant found herself being arrested, along with two social workers who had accompanied her to the court to help and support her. The judge, she claimed, had called her a “pagal, badtameez ladki” – a crazy, ill-mannered girl – accused her and the social workers of arguing with him, and ordered their arrest.
The four men accused of raping the 22-year-old woman have not yet been identified or arrested. But the complainant and her companions – Tanmay Nivedita and Kalyani – were sent 240 km away from Araria to a jail in Samastipur, and charged with non-bailable offences like disrupting court proceedings and preventing public servants from doing their duty.
On July 18, after their arrest drew nationwide criticism, the rape complainant was finally granted bail and released from jail. But Tanmay and Kalyani, who have...
