My life is at risk as the main accused is still at large, says Park Street rape victim

On the eve of the completion of a year since she was raped at gunpoint in a moving car in the Park Street area of the city, the 38-year-old woman still has nightmares, her fears driven by the fact the main accused of the crime is still at large. “The very thought that the prime accused in the incident is still at large scares me. My life is at risk as long as he is not arrested,” the woman, a mother of two, told The Hindu over telephone on Tuesday.

While three persons have been arrested in connection with the crime that was committed in the early hours of February 6 last year, two others, including the main accused Kader Khan, is still absconding.

The victim has also a grouse against certain politicians saying “in spite of going through such an ordeal what hurts me most is that some people still look down upon me.”

While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said, days after the incident, that it was “staged” to malign her government, only a few months ago in December 2012 Trinamool Congress MP Kakali Ghosh Dastidar tried to cast aspersions on the victim’s character stating that the incident was a result of “misunderstanding” between a “ woman and her clients.”

“The scar will never heal, but all I can ask for is justice,” she said, adding that she has to continue her struggle so that those guilty are brought to the book.

Anirban Guha Thakurta, her lawyer, said in the beginning his client was suicidal and had to go through regular counselling. It was only with the progress of case that she found the hope to carry on her fight, he said. On Wednesday, the Additional District and Session Judge, Fast Track Court III will decide on the victim’s petition demanding a judicial probe in the disappearance of footage of close circuit television cameras of a nightclub on Park Street, Mr. Thakurta said.