THEME 4: FAILURE OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
CASE STUDY: PERSECUTION OF FAMILIES OF DALIT SURVIVORS AND VICTIMS
Meena (name changed)
State: Gujarat
Age of the victim: 19 years
Date of the incident: December 2019
The victim was kidnapped on 31st December 2019 and her dead body was found hanging on a tree in her village, 5 days after her kidnapping. She was gangraped by four men before her murder. In her autopsy report it also came out that she was sodomised.
Dalit rights activists and CSOs helped the victim’s family to register police complaint by protesting against the authorities. The police were not interested to intervene in the case. During the investigation, the police stated in the chargesheet that it was a case of honour killing by the victim’s own family and s not a case of rape and murder.
The victim was forced to compromise in the case. The victim’s family hailed from a very financially weak background and were forced to leave their village and relocate, with no protection from the police, security against the intimidation by the dominant caste families or economic support. The police inaction in the whole case, forced compromise and the struggle of the family of the victim are symptomatic of the impunity that oppressor caste men enjoy in the society.