In 2004, PUDR investigated six cases of sexual assault that were reported in the press. In five cases, the sexual assault clearly occurred in custody of an employee either of medical institutions or by policeman.
A factfinding report into 5 cases of custodial rape in the capital city.
On 30 September 1999, a 30 year ols sex workerand a mother of two children was abducted from G.B. ROad on her way back from fetching milk by COnstable Deepak Dubey of the Kamla Market P.S.. She was brutally raped and sodomised by Dubey, his cousin Sanjeev Dikshit and a TSR Driver. She managed to return to G.B. Road at about 8.00 P.M. the same evening.
This report is about the rape of a 35 year old woman by the policemen of Malviya Nagar Police Station at her own house in Lal Gumbad Jhuggi camp during an assault on the Jhuggi dwellers by a contingent of around 60 policemen. Police Action on jhuggi dwellers came in the context of the demolition of a gate being put up by the residents of Sadhna Enclave to restrict the passage of Jhuggi people through the colony.
On the night of 20 January 1996, a boy along with his sister and niece were picked up by the police peronnel of Deshbandhu Gupta Road P.S. Both the women were raped isside the Police Station. Women were allowed to go next day and the boy was kept for one more day. The victims belonged to Nepali community. THey contacted other members of their community and tried their best to rgister crime. However, there has been no FIR filed andexcept so many inquires nothing had happened.
This is a small report highlighting the adverse circumstances that a rape survivor faces in the aftermath of her rape in police custody. The report is about the rape of a dalit woman in a Narela Police Station in Delhi. In an uncommon instance in this case, the accused policemen were promptly dismissed and cases registered against them but it is the disappearance of the victim afterwards that is the focal point of the report. The report shows how larger societal norms are stacked against the rape survivors.
A woman brought to the police station goes missing, and when found accuses a policeman of rape. All circumstantial evidence point to the guilt of the policeman and he is taken into judicial custody. Despite this, the investigating police officers take much interest in the woman’s ‘character’ as ‘dubious’, and her – who is both the victim and the witness – testimony is dismissed as unreliable. When the investigators of a violation of law are colleagues of the accused, then pursuit of justice is not a straightforward matter.
A rape victim invariably faces compelling pressures that imposes a shroud of silence over her violations.Such pressures come from within the family and and more pervasively through the norms and codes of society. Where the agents of state are responsible for such violation the social power that men exercise over women is reinforced by the authority of the uniform. It is rare enough for the woman to press charges. When she does - all too often a variety of pressures are brought to bear on her to compel a retreat.
On 9th May a young 25 year old migrant woman living in Kutcha Jhuggi in Baljeet Nagar was raped by police constable attached to the Patel Nagar Police Station. According to press reports, this was followed by a second attempt but attempt was foiled and the constable arrested. Although an FIR was filed, the constable was granted bail on the ground of delay in filing the complaint. The SHO of Patel Nagar aaserted that this was not a case of custodial rape , since the woman had not been taken into custody.
