HYDERABAD: A revisit on how the life conviction came in for the Ex-MPTC and political leader Kishan Lingampally in the 2014 gang rape case where he brutalised 3 Odiya girls in a brick kiln at Karimnagar highlights how difficult it is for victims of rape to fight for justice as often the legal system itself fails them. This, as all the three victims had been subjected to the banned two-finger test during their medical examination in 2014 by the RFSL reveals the judgement copy."
However, this is only one part of the problem with this case that happened in 2014 which changed the lives of these three minor girls aged 16, 11 and 14 who were raped for two days. The judgement reveals that the problem begins from the fact that the system of checks of these kilns has many lacuna. The copy examines the labour officer as a witness in the case, and it is learnt that though the Assistant Labour Officer had visited the kiln four days after the first rape had occurred, he, however, failed to ascertain the situation due to possible language barriers.
“All our lives were at risk. The girls had to be taken five times for the trial in extremely unsafe conditions in the name of incorrect translations, as they only spoke in Oriya. They had to be kept in undisclosed locations, and prepared for the trail,” noted Sunitha Krishnan of Prajwala.