A pall of gloom hung over the hospital bed where a 25-year-old woman lay in pain. She had multiple fractures in both her limbs and several injuries on the left side of her body. Writhing in pain, the young woman told The Hindu her story of woe. She had come from her in-laws house at Kembavi in Shahapur taluk, Yadgir district, to her parents’ house in Nagaralli village for the delivery of her first child three months ago.
Bad news
When she arrived home, she learnt that their neighbour, Bheemanna, had allegedly raped her paralytic mother. After her child was born, she and her father filed a complaint against the rapist in the Yedrami Police Station. That was two months ago. “From the day of the complaint, Bheemanna began threatening me and my father. On March 1, Bheemanna and his wife barged into my house and he tried to rape me also…. when I resisted, both of them thrashed with me with clubs and I fell unconscious,” she said.
When her father, who was away, returned home, he rushed her to a private hospital and she was later shifted to the Basaveshwar Teaching and General Hospital, Gulbarga city, on March 2.
Head of the Orthopaedic Department of the hospital, where the young mother is being treated, said the victim had suffered severe injuries caused by a heavy object. It will take months for her to recover, the doctor said.
Police inaction
Rubbing salt into her wounds was the insensitive and indifferent attitude of the police who are yet to take action against the alleged rapist and his wife.
The police have also not acted on the earlier complaint of the rape of the paralytic mother. When the incident was brought to the notice of Superintendent of Police N. Satheesh Kumar, he appeared shocked and promised to act immediately and arrest the culprit. Mr. Kumar also deputed a woman Sub-Inspector to record the statement of the victim and also summoned the Sub-Inspector of the Yedrami Police Station for a summary inquiry.
Too costly
The pathetic story of the victim does not end here. Neither she nor her father are in a position to meet the medical expenses that are to follow. “My husband is yet to visit me after the assault,” she said forlornly.
