Bhanwari Devi Case

Raped September 22, 1992

She may be a Dalit, hailing from a poor, potter's family, but in the last decade, Bhanwari Devi has become a torchbearer for the women's movement in the country.

Though everyone remembers the name, few know that even 14 years after she was gangraped by upper-caste villagers for attempting to stop a child marriage in her village, Bhateri, about 45 km from Jaipur, this "icon" still hasn't got justice.

In 1992, as a sathin working for the women's development programme of the Rajasthan government, 41-year-old Bhanwari tried to persuade a Gujjar family not to get their one-year- old daughter married. The police, too, stepped in and prevented the marriage.

However, the child marriage took place the next day any way, and after that the village ordered a socio-economic boycott of Bhanwari's family, holding her responsible for the police intervention.

She was even asked to leave the village, but she refused. On September 22, 1992, five upper-caste men raped Bhanwari in the presence of her husband. The rape was widely seen as a punishment for her defiance and because she had challenged accepted cultural norms.

The police initially refused to record her statement. Past midnight that day, they asked her to leave her skirt behind as evidence and return to her village. She did, wearing her husband's dhoti. For her medical examination, she went to Jaipur, but there too, the medical report did not confirm rape, only her age.

Initial police investigations held her rape allegations as false they said she was too old and unattractive to be raped by young men. But pressure from women's groups and civil rights organisations forced the government to ask for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which found all the allegations made by Bhanwari to be true.

The trial began in 1994. In the meanwhile, there were constant threats as well as pressure on her to withdraw the case. On November 15, 1995, the court found that the delay in filing her complaint with police and in obtaining a medical examination indicated that she had made the story up.

It acquitted the five accused of the rape charge, saying the incident could not have taken place because "upper caste men, including a Brahmin, would not rape a woman of a lower caste". The men were convicted of minor crimes.

In early 1996, women's organisations, CBI and Rajasthan government filed an appeal in the High Court against the acquittal.

Says activist and People's Union for Civil Liberties chief in the state, Kavita Srivastava, who has been at the forefront of the campaign to get justice for Bhanwari, "It's the 10th year of that appeal and not a single hearing has taken place yet. We twice appealed for an early hearing but both were rejected."

Says Srivastava, "She's living in penury. Though she has received a number of awards, Bhanwari has not received a penny from the state government. She cannot sell pots any more and has only a tiny plot of land. She is forced to survive on the Rs 500 salary she gets as a sathin every month."

So, why doesn't she leave the village? "Because she says she did nothing wrong. She also believes that the villagers will stand by her one day," says Srivastava.

Bhanwari Devi's case provoked women's organisations to file a petition in the Supreme Court, asking it to give directions regarding sexual harassment at the workplace. The apex court judgment, which came on August 13, 1997, gave the Vishaka guidelines that hold employers responsible for providing safe work environment for women.

Says Srivastava, "Bhanwari's case was a pioneering one for the anti-rape movement. It brought about a change even in the system of accountability of the police. Many women have gained from Bhanwari Devi's struggle, but sadly not her."

ref: times of india