UPDATE (India): Wait for justice continues after ten years; Vacant court denies justice to a handicapped woman

[Re: UA-07-2005: INDIA: Handicapped torture and rape victim waits ten years for justice. Ms. Hasna Mondal, a handicapped woman, from East Daukimari, District Jalpaiguri, West Bengal is still waiting for the perpetrators to be punished, ten years after the brutal incident. A complaint which was filed the day after the incident, on 28 February 1995, was registered by Officer-in-Charge Mr. Gautam Sen, who was involved in Hasna’s abuse. For this reason, Hasna was not produced before a magistrate until 1996, until Mr. Sen was transferred and a new investigating officer for her case was appointed. The matter was then transferred to the Sessions Court, Jalpaiguri and pending hearing before the Additional Sessions Judge. And since at present the Additional Sessions Court has no judge, it is now indefinitely delayed. In the meantime, Hasna and her family have been receiving threats to withdraw the case–although she has filed complaints against the threats, the police have typically taken no action.] (See further UA-07-2005)

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further information on the case of Ms. Hasna Mondal, a handicapped woman from East Daukimari, District Jalpaiguri, West Bengal who is still waiting for her perpetrators to be punished ten years after her brutal torture and rape. Ms. Hasna was tortured and raped on 27 February 1995 and a complaint was lodged the next day. As of today, however, her case is indefinitely adjourned, since the court in which her case is to be heard has not had a presiding judge since 26 February 2004. Even though there were previous appearances on five dates from 4 July 2003 no witnesses were examined and the case has been adjourned ever since. The case now stands posted to 11 August 2005, yet there is no hope that the case will be taken up on this date or in the near future.

This case exposes the hollowness of the Indian legal system which claims that it sets a precedence for the rest of the legal systems in the world, when in reality justice to the ordinary remains very much a pipedream.

Despite the passing of more than ten years the case of Ms. Mondal is yet to be taken up by the court. Ms. Mondal’s case is just one amongst the several thousand cases pending before various courts in the state of West Bengal and one amongst several hundred thousand pending across the country.

The AHRC therefore calls for your urgent intervention in this case. Please send a letter to local authorities and others urging them to immediately take action in this case. All necessary steps must be taken to have Ms. Mondal’s case heard and decided without any further delay. Please also urge the authorities to ensure that the victim is protected from the perpetrator pending the trial in this case.

Urgent Appeals Desk,

Asian Human Rights Commission
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BRIEF REMINDER OF THE CASE:

Name of victim: Ms Hasna Mondal, daughter of the late Mahadeb Mondal, 23-years-old, (13-years-old at the time of incident and studying in class VIII of Daukimari D.N. High School)
Place of incident: East Daukimari, Dhupguri Police station, Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Prafulla Sarkar, son of the late Manmohan Sarkar, a local quack doctor
2. Sandhya Sarkar, wife of Prafulla Sarkar
3. Pradip Sarkar, son of Prafulla Sarkar
4. Adhir Sarkar, son of Harmohan Sarkar, Village-Jharalta Gram, Dhupguri
5. Brajeswar Sarkar, East Daukimari, Dhupguri
6. Tapan Singha Roy, driver of car no WGV 2335
7. Bahumulya Sarkar, son of Prafulla Sarkar, village-South Kanthulia, Dhupguri
8. Gobinda Sarkar, East Daukimari, Dhupguri
9. Gautam Sen (deceased), Officer in Charge of the Dhupguri Police station
10. A.K.Saha, the then Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dey.S.P.) of Jalpaiguri
11. C.V.Muraleedhar, the then Superintendent of Police, Jalpaiguri (now promoted to Inspector General of Police)
Date of incident: 27 February 1995 at about 7:00pm to 28 February 1995 at about 4:30am

Hasna Mondal, an orthopaedically handicapped girl (certified by the Government of West Bengal) belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. On the night of 27 February 1995, Ms. Hasna was tortured by members of her own village, allegedly to force from her details regarding the whereabouts of the son of Mr. Prafulla Sarkar, Mr. Prabir who had eloped with one of Hasna’s neighbor. She was then taken to the Dhupguri Police Station where she was further tortured and beaten up.

Ms. Hasna was put back into the taxi car in which she was brought to the police station and soon she was gang raped in the car. She was later dragged into an open field and further raped in the cover of darkness. She was abandoned in front of her house by the perpetrators early the next morning.

Local villagers were outraged by this incident, and went to the police station the next morning (February 28) to file a complaint. However, the FIR was registered by the same Officer-in-Charge Mr. Gautam Sen who was responsible for torturing her the night before. For the initial inaction by the police to register the case and also due to the willful negligence in investigating it, there was public protest organised by the villagers.

The case (No: 15/95) which had been registered under 376(2)(g) and 120B of the Indian Penal code had Gautam Sen as the investigating officer. He was later transferred and Mr Ashim Ghosh took over as the officer-in-charge of the police station and as the investigating officer. It was only then that Hasna was produced before a Judicial Magistrate attached to the District Criminal Court where her statement was recorded under section 164 of the Criminal Penal Code.  The charge sheet (no: 67/96) was finally made after the investigations were completed and submitted on 26 December 1996 before the Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate, Jalpaiguri. The matter was then transferred to the Sessions Court of Jalpaiguri and was heard by the 1st Additional Sessions Judge.

Since then, all of the witnesses have been examined except for the Investigating Officer. The last witness, Dr Basumata was examined as prosecution witness number 9 on 4 July 2003. After that the court seems to have been simply assigning dates without any action having been taken. The dates that were fixed for the examination of the investigating officer have been 9 August 2003, 9 September 2003, 5 December 2003, 22 January 2004, 26 February 2004, 15 May 2004, 19 August 2004, 20 August 2004 and 12 October 2004.

Hasna’s examination has also been delayed along similar lines. Furthermore, at present the 1st Additional Sessions Judge court is vacant as the presiding judge has been transferred. This has added further delays to the already prolonged case. The case now stands adjourned to 11 August 2005. Ms. Hasna and local human rights groups engaged in fighting the case with her has no expectation that the case will be heard on August 11. In the meantime, Hasna’s father passed away, resulting in a reduced income for the family – her sisters and mother are in the business of making bidis (a local substitute for cigarettes).

This case reflects how deteriorated the institutions which should be ensuring rule of law in India are. The very fact that the police officer who is duty bound to safeguard citizens’ rights and liberty participated in the persecution campaign of the victim and that the very same officer was entrusted with the investigation of the case exposes the fathoms into which the policing of India has fallen. The manner in which the proceedings in the court has been stalled shows how far the judiciary in India is able and willing to safeguard the rights of perpetrators and how few remedies there are in cases of violations. This case also exposes the significant flaws in India’s domestic legal system, which evidently is unable to safeguard the rights of innocent victims in cases of torture and other abuses.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter to the Chief Minister of West Bengal requesting him to take immediate steps to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this horrific crime against an innocent handicapped girl and also to ensure the safety and protection of the victim and her family. Please also send copies of that letter to those persons listed below.

 

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER