A dalit rape victim kept running from pillar to post in Meral block of Garhwa district, but the police in place of taking action filed a counter FIR against the victim's family and supporters in order to save the accused, one Ashish Dubey. The incident took place in Karkoma village on 14 September. The village panchayat tried to hush up the matter through a village meeting, instead of standing with the victim, and later when the victim approached nearby Meral thana on 17 September to lodge a complaint she was abused and mistreated by the police and forced to leave without filing FIR. The accused’s family and their upper caste cohorts are openly boasting of the protection they are assured of by local police as well as MLA to the extent that they even beat up one witness Chandrabali Chaoudhary when some people tried to mediate from the side of the victim. The aggrieved family then gave a memorandum to the SP Garhwa and simultaneously filed a complaint in the court. This led to the filing of the FIR, even then the medical examination could take place only on 5 October, 22 days after the incident. But still there’s no hope that justice will be done.
Owing to the complicity of the Meral thana incharge a false case of extortion was filed in retaliation against Chandrabali Choudhary, the witness in the rape case, also against father in law of the victim Dashrath Choudhary, and against a handicapped Chandrika Choudhary as well as a teacher Arjun Ram. These four persons are leading voices of protest against this heinous crime. They are bravely standing against the upper caste perpetrators along with the CPI(ML) party which has also been mentioned in this false FIR. This has happened in BJP ruled Jharkhand that seeking justice for a rape victim is being perceived by the political establishment as a challenge to the supremacy of upper caste domineering people, and this is unacceptable to them and must be punished. Local BJP MLA Satyendra Nath Tiwary visited the area on the occasion of Durga Puja and used this opportunity to ‘accuse’ the CPI(ML) of spreading ‘animosity’ among the villagers! CPI(ML) is standing hand in hand with the oppressed villagers in this case.
The CPI(ML) organized a protest meeting on 4 November in primary school field of Harijan tola in Karkoma village against local MLA’s tacit complicity with the rape accused. The meeting was presided over by Rahamatullah Ansari and addressed by party’s Garhwa district secretary Kalicharan Mahato, Sushma Mehta, Virendra Choudhary, Ramnaresh Choudhary, Bhardul Bhuiyan and many others. Speakers condemned BJP MLA, state administration and police for further victimizing the victims who dare to speak up for justice and pledged not to rest till rapist and his cohorts are punished. They also reminded increased incidents of oppression on Dalits, adivasis, minorities and women under communal castiest BJP rule in the state where perpetrators of crimes are getting full impunity from the BJP. Many such incidents in this area include murders of Kuldeep Choudhary of Garhaota Danda, Amit Tiwary of Dumariya, Satyendra of Tildaag, Raviranjan of Garhwa-Jobaraiya, murder of Sonali - a Dental College student, of Ramji Mahato of Bauraha etc. The local MLA has always kept a silence while killers have not yet been arrested in all these cases. CPI(ML) is always at the forefront of the struggles for justice, rights and dignity of the oppressed in the district.
