BENGALURU: Traumatised after surviving a night of being gangraped and assaulted by six men in Anekal, the victim says she can never forget the faces of her rapists. Having repeatedly raped her, the men threw boulders on her legs, leaving her to die.
“There were six men. I think college-going, all in their 20s. The photographs that the police sent to me for identification are all of older men. I can never forget their faces. All six of them raped me through the night and all of them shot videos. They threw big stones on my legs. I had barely any clothes left on me for an entire day,” Ranjini (name changed), the rape survivor, said.
“I used to take the same route every day for work to a cement factory. They paid me `4,000 for maintaining records. That night, one aunty called me on the pretext of talking to me and I went to the building. Those men came around 7pm and then it all started,” she said.Her left cheek and left elbow are swollen. She has trouble lying down on her back and she tries to sit up leaning on one side. A woman constable escorts her 24 hours and says she will be provided security till she is well enough to give her statement to the magistrate.
The police constable said, “When there is a possibility of a threat to the life to a rape survivor, she is provided security.”Unfortunately, Anekal police said no progress had been made in the case so far. A senior police official involved in the investigation said, “Yes, we have been apprised of the fact that the rapists were in their 20s but we are yet to round up suspects in that age group. We have sent her pictures of suspects, who were in their 40s. There has been no progress made in the case so far.”Meanwhile, Anekal police arrested three people who had forcibly evicted the victim from her residence, where she was staying before the gangrape.
Her grit leaves visitors in awe
The first thing that strikes any visitor checking in on the Anekal rape survivor is her spirit. Despite suffering unspeakable horror, the only thing on her mind is to be able to walk again and get back to work as soon as possible. She pays utmost attention to her physiotherapist, and when asked about her medical complaints, she said, “I just want to walk again. I tried it yesterday but couldn’t.” The doctor teaches her exercises to ease the stiffness in her muscles and instructs her to repeat the exercises in her free time. Pat comes her reply in chaste English, “I am free all the time. I will do all your exercises. You review me tomorrow.” Geeta Menon, secretary of Stree Jagriti Samiti, said, “She is in good spirits. We will take her to a shelter if she wants.” She is still in a lot of pain.
The constable escorting her says she can gulp down an entire strip of painkillers if provided. “I am under tremendous pain and they don’t give me a lot of painkillers. Nobody understands the tremendous pain I am in. If they go through the same thing they will know why I need painkillers,” she said. She speaks four languages - English, Hindi, Nepali and Kannada. “I picked it (Kannada) up while working. I used to observe our customers speak,” she said. She vividly recalls her childhood. “My parents were both daily wage labourers and I studied till Class 8. Although it was called a high school, they used to make us sit on the floor; not like the government schools here where you are provided with books. I am their only child. They died in an earthquake in Nepal. Even my uncles and aunts died in it. I reached Bengaluru after a three-day journey 14 years ago,” she said. When Express brought the case to the notice of the First Secretary of the Nepal Embassy in Delhi, she assured that they first need to ascertain her Nepali identity before offering help.