The perseverance of the Vakapalli ‘rape victims’ in seeking punishment of the guilty despite hostile circumstances is worthy of emulation by other women who are victims of various forms of injustice, said Vasudha Nagaraj, an advocate of the AP High Court.
At a meeting organised by the Human Rights Forum (HRF) to mark the completion of 10 years of struggle for justice by the ‘rape victims’ of Vakapalli village and the 6th District Convention of the HRF here on Sunday, Ms. Vasudha complimented the tribal women for remaining steadfast to their demand for justice.
It was on August 20, 2007 that 11 Kondhu tribe women ‘were raped by 21 Greyhounds policemen’ at the village of Nurmathi panchayat of G. Madugula mandal in the Agency area of the district.
The Tribal Welfare Commissioner had noted that the local police had not done any investigation and recommended handing over of the investigation to an independent agency, she said.
The AP Girijan Samakhya had approached the High Court and the latter directed the State government to entrust the probe to the CB-CID. Ms. Vasudha said: “The CB-CID, whose job was only to gather evidence, went beyond its call of duty and went on to declare that ‘no rape had occurred’ as there were no injury marks on the victims.”
The victims filed a protest petition in the Paderu Magistrate Court on April 16, 2008, demanding that the CB-CID SP’s report should be rejected.
They also sought that their plea should be taken as a private complaint. The court admitted the plea. The accused policemen obtained an interim stay order from the High Court.
Again when the High Court gave its ruling in April, 2012, the accused had obtained a stay from the Supreme Court and the case was awaiting disposal.
“As Human Rights lawyers, our greatest challenge is to wait for the final verdict and stand by the victims till justice is done to them. On their part, the victims have not given up hope and they are continuing their struggle for justice,” Ms. Vasudha said.
Mahila Chetana leader Padma said delayed justice and non-registration or watering down of cases of sexual harassment and violence by policemen, particularly against tribal women, was resulting in the recurrence of such cases.
HRF secretary for Telangana and AP S. Jeevan Kumar spoke on the activities of the forum in safeguarding the rights of tribal people.
Adivasi Rachayatula Sangham representative Rama Rao Dora spoke. HRF district leader Sarat presided.
