LUCKNOW: She claims to have got duped in the name of love. She was kept in captivity as a sex slave. After being raped repeatedly, she was thrown out by the perpetrator with the threat that her videos would be uploaded on social media.
The Unnao rape survivor, who was allegedly set ablaze by five people on Thursday, receiving 90 per cent burns, was cheated by Shivam Trivedi who comes from an affluent family. His mother is a three-time gram pradhan.
In her complaint submitted to the police in 2018, she said she was lured by Shivam with a marriage proposal. He along with his sibling Shubham took her to a temple at Hindu Nagar in Unnao with a promise that Shivam would marry her, but they raped her at gunpoint.
Daughter of a marginal farmer, the victim, the youngest of seven children, claims that she believed Shivam and accompanied him to Lalgunj in Rae Bareli where he planned to marry her. Instead of going ahead with the marriage plans, Shivam raped her and the act was video-recorded. That became a regular practice for a
month. He kept her in a rented room in Rae Bareli for two months and kept a close eye on her. He allegedly threatened to kill her if she ever dared to venture out. He regularly changed houses and cities, said the FIR filed by the victim.
As per her FIR, she confronted Shivam on January 19, 2018 and asked him to marry her as per his promise. Shivam took her to a Rae Bareli court and prepared a marriage contract but took her back to her village on the pretext of marrying her soon.
As per the victim’s FIR, while in captivity, she was not even allowed to peep out of the Rae Bareli house where she was kept.
The victim finally disregarded all the life threats given to her by Shivam and filed two FIRs -- the first with Bihar Bahta police (Unnao) on March 5 and the second the next day with Lalgunj (Rae Bareli) police.
The narrative of the FIR reads that when she did look out of the house, she was beaten up and raped again. Similar is the text of her complaint to the chairperson of State Women’s Commission, Lucknow.
In the FIR she also mentioned that when she approached the Rae Bareli police, she was sent away without being allowed to lodge her complaint.
Only after the intervention of the court, an FIR was lodged under section 376D (gang rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC first at Bihar Bahta police station on March 5, 2019 and then at Lalgunj on March 6.
However, in her declaration to a sub-divisional magistrate after Thursday's incident, the victim has revealed her age as 30 years.
According to the ADG Lucknow, SN Sabat, acting on the basis of the FIRs filed by the victim, the main accused Shivam had surrendered in September and was sent to jail while Shubham was declared absconding. Shivam was released on bail on November 30.