M A I N   N E W S

After losing their daughter to social stigma, Jind family wants to migrate
Geetanjali Gayatri/TNS

Living a life of near-isolation in Sacha Khera’s Dalit settlement where their community has “ganged up” against them for “hitting a jackpot” after Meena’s death, the family claims it has become the butt of unsavoury jokes and ridicule even as some villagers hurl expletives and repeatedly provoke and insult them.

“The battlelines are clearly drawn with our families on one side and those of the accused on the other. Despite our tragedy, the community is siding with them. We expect no help and have limited our movement for safety,” explains Meena’s paternal uncle. The entire community has chosen to side with the accused. “They abuse us and beat us up for something as simple as crossing their way if they are standing in the lane. They then joke about it, telling everybody that they have made a mistake by touching us and none less than Sonia Gandhi will come and sort them out and have a good laugh,” says the mother. Attributing most of their troubles to the “VVIP visit” days after her daughter’s death, she says the entire village switched sides after Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit on October 9 last year.

“Several stories are doing the rounds to alienate us. Villagers believe Sonia Gandhi has taken the responsibility of the upbringing and wedding of all my children (four daughters and two sons), while all she promised was justice. My elder son got a job while we got Rs 2.5 lakh from the state government. This has already been used up to fund travel expenses during the case hearing,” says the father, adding that the “riches-woven” tales with no feet have turned the village against them and all sympathy has vanished.

Meena’s paternal uncle -- and the first to find her ablaze -- recalls what the teen told him while being rushed to hospital.

“She said one of the accused pulled her into his house, gang-raped her with his friends and let her off. We had heard a commotion in the lane and come out, but didn’t know what had happened. We saw smoke billowing out of my elder brother’s house and rushed there, but the door was bolted. I scaled the wall to find Meena ablaze. We covered her and took her to Narwana where her statement was recorded and she was referred to Rohtak. She died soon after.”

Their advocate, Randhir Singh, explains, “Meena’s dying declaration named three accused and a ‘bhabhi’ who had allegedly watched the goings-on from her terrace. The woman’s husband, a policeman, was named by the girl’s family for standing guard outside while Meena was raped and facilitating the escape of the accused. The policeman claimed he was not in the village at the time of the crime, but failed to produce evidence. Yet, he was let-off. His wife, too, was acquitted because the police did not make out a case of criminal conspiracy against her, which proves the shoddy investigation. With no faith left in the system, the girl’s family decided to go in for an appeal privately.”