Letter after Sordar bail, ostracism fear
SHILLONG: Fear of ostracism and security concerns forced the 17-year-old gang rape victim from Mawryngkneng to write to the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) asking for protection and justice.
The girl, who was gang raped by six men, narrated the incidents in the letter addressed to SCPCR chief Meena Kharkongor. She said she was gang raped on the night of January 1 and she escaped from their clutches the following morning.
She said her family depended on the Sordar of the area, Peter Lawai, for help. Lawai searched for the culprits and some were called over phone. The family thought the rapists would be handed over to police.
Instead, the victim was taken to the Iing Dong where Goldenstar Mukhim, the Rangbah Dong of Mawmang and brother of one of the accused, and five other perpetrators were present. The culprits admitted to their crime, the girl wrote.
Lawai reprimanded her for “roaming around at night” and accused her of drinking with the rapists, an allegation she denied, the letter said.
“He carried a stick and warned me and the six accused to tell the truth. Later, I fainted there,” she added.
It should be mentioned that the letter came less than a week after Lawai, who was arrested for abetting the rapists, got bail and was given a hero’s welcome by villagers.
Lawai is also the president of the Hynniewtrep Youth Council.
The girl in her letter to SCPCR said Lawai called for reconciliation. He told the two parties that since a blunder had been committed, they should reconcile as they were neighbours.
She narrated that Lawai asked them whether they had enough money to file a case if the culprits were arrested.
Reiterating their demand to arrest the culprits, the victim’s family said they did not have money. Lawai, however, told the family that after two-three months or a year, the accused would be released, which will be their undoing.
The Sordar told them not to go ahead with the FIR as she needed medical attention first and that Rs 1,000 would be taken from each accused. But the victim’s family was adamant and wanted their arrest, the girl wrote.
The victim went ahead to state that Mukhim and Lawai instructed the victim’s family to say that it was consensual sex and not rape. Further, the two traditional heads directed the family to go to a private hospital and not a government one and later show the medical reports to Lawai.
However, on reaching Woodland Hospital, the victim’s family told the hospital staff that it was a case of rape to which the hospital refused to admit the girl without an FIR.
In this connection, they informed the Sordar who told them to come back for which another meeting would be convened in the evening.
The victim and her family approached Bethany Hospital but they were again denied as there was no FIR.
Narrating the turn of events in the letter, the minor said in the evening of January 3, a meeting was convened at Iing Dong. This time too, the family pinned their hopes on the Sordar to have the culprits arrested after filing an FIR.
The families of the six accused were present and begged for forgiveness but the victim’s family stood their ground.
The victim stated that the Sordar would ask her to stand despite her weakness and she would stand with the support of her family. Lawai continued to press the family for reconciliation. After repeated requests from the family, Lawai and Mukhim went to the police station.
On reaching the police station, the family found that both the village heads were with the police chatting and warming themselves beside the fire. They saw that they had written her and the six men’s names on a plain sheet of paper.
The police later took her to the PHC and by the time the medical examination got over, it was already 1am and the family later called her aunt, narrating to her the incident.
Later her aunt filed an FIR after she came to know from Lawai that he did not file one.
The victim stated that she was saddened over the turn of events as the Sordar put pressure on the family to reconcile and to steer clear from filing an FIR.
The girl further wrote that post these events, villagers stopped talking to them. She stated, “The hue and cry raised in the village and the public meeting convened on the day he (Lawai) was released has frightened me and my family.”
“(I am) sad that the Sordar has counter charged us and instigated the villagers to support him. In the meeting, there was a shout from the public to ostracise us,” she added.