Chandigarh, October 1
Sarabjeet Kaur is a broken woman. Widowed at 25 years of age, she is now fighting a lone battle of justice against her own in-laws who allegedly “sold” her off to a middle aged man for a paltry sum of Rs 25,000.
Forcibly given in matrimony to one Nihal Singh of Jandiala in Amritsar, Sarabjeet is inconsolable as she alleges that her “moneyed owner” intoxicated her before outraging her modesty earlier during this month. Later he allegedly even threatened to kill her one-and-a-half-year old daughter in case she refused sexual favours to him.
The gravest of Sarabjeet’s allegations is that the police personnel concerned, instead of assuring her fair investigation in the case, have been pressuring her to compromise with the situation on grounds that she is a widow anyway.
Visibly shaken, Sarabjeet has now pinned all her hopes on the investigation which Punjab State Human Rights Commission has ordered in the case. Stating that it is a prima facie case for violation of human rights, the Commission has directed Punjab Inspector-General of Police (Litigation) to ensure that
Sarabjeet’s “life, liberty and dignity is protected”.
The Commission, headed by its chairperson, Justice N.C. Jain (retd), has also sought a detailed report from the IG (Litigation), who would receive the same directly from SSP, Jalandhar.
The SSP has been directed to prepare the report himself as the allegations have been levelled against the SHO and ASI of Police Station division No 7, where Sarabjeet submitted her representation right after returning to her parents’ house in Jalandhar.
The Commission has ordered that a copy of the order be made available to it at least three days before the next date of hearing in December.
Sarabjeet fears harassment at the hands of her in-laws as well as the police. In the city to pursue her case, she told The Tribune that her mother-in-law was in custody of her three-year-old son.
“After my husband died in a road accident, my mother-in-law started harassing me saying I was a burden. I had no idea she would sell me for money. On September 5, she took me from our home in Nakodar to a gurdwara in Jalandhar. There she intoxicated me and then forcibly married me off to Nihal Singh who took me to Jandiala. There he raped me,” Sarabjeet narrates her sordid tale.
Recording these allegations in her complaint before the Commission, Sarabjeet, while appealing for the custody of her son, alleged that her sister-in-law was now forcing to either return Rs 25,000 to Nihal Singh or accept the marriage. “When I have not taken the money how can I return it? Moreover, they also have my child,” laments the woman, anxious to redeem her honour.
Fighting Sarabjeet’s case Ms Veena Kumari from Human Rights Law Network added the case was peculiar as the allegations of human trafficking had been levelled against the family members.
“The tendency is to ignore the trauma of widows assuming they would be only too happy to remarry. But in Sarabjeet’s case, no consent was sought. The deal was allegedly struck by one woman named Raj from Panjpeer in Jalandhar. In our complaint we have demanded registration of cases against Sarabjeet’s In-laws as well as the erring police personnel.”
