Rape, sexual assault, poverty: what people with disabilities face in Malwa

In this region of Madhya Pradesh which votes on May 19, they call themselves India’s hidden population, and India’s judicial process isn’t making it any easier.

WrittenBy:Prateek Goyal
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“I feel acute anger when I hear about sexual abuse. I was repeatedly raped, and he made a video of the brutality. In my case, for a long time, I couldn’t even inform anyone of what I had gone through.”

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Nutan*, 21, communicates in sign language with the help of an interpreter. She was born deaf. Nutan and another young woman were allegedly repeatedly raped by the owner of a government-funded hostel in Bhopal for over a year. Two other young women were allegedly repeatedly molested by the owner. All four women are deaf and communicate in sign language. One of the women was a minor at the time of the abuse.

Their stories came to light only when an NGO stepped forward to help them. The four women didn’t know how to explain their ordeal to parents and relatives.

“Physically challenged people like me are the real hidden population of this country,” Nutan says. “No political party even mentions us in their manifestos; nobody cares.”

At the cusp of the conclusion of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Nutan’s words might ring true to an extent. While disability finds a mention across most manifestos, political promises focus on issues like better jobs and increased national security, although 2.68 crore people in India are disabled. According to the 2011 census, they make up 2.21 per cent of the total population. The National Association of the Deaf says one per cent of the population—1.8 crore people—live with speech and hearing disabilities.

***

In 2016, Nutan and the three other women were students enrolled at ITI College in Bhopal. They stayed in a government-funded hostel run by a man named Ashwini Sharma. The four women are from poor families in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh. Sharma is currently in jail, accused of raping two of the women and molesting the other two.

According to the FIRs filed by the women in Dhar and Indore in August 2018, Sharma repeatedly raped Nutan and 20-year-old Kamla*. He repeatedly sexually assaulted the two other women, the women alleged. Sharma would beat them if they tried to reject his advances, their statements said. He would allegedly show Nutan and Kamla porn videos before raping them. In 2017, the FIRs said, the accused shifted the four women from the hostel to a row house in Bhopal, telling them they would have to live with him. 

The FIRs said Sharma, the accused, allegedly forced them to wear short clothes. He would grope and pinch them as they moved around in the house, and hit them with his elbow on their backs if they protested. He threatened them with consequences if they told anyone about him, saying he knew of their poor economic conditions. Newslaundry has accessed the FIRs.

Nutan and Kamla tell Newslaundry that Sharma would not allow them to visit their village in Dhar during college holidays. He would say their parents wanted them to stay in Bhopal. Meanwhile, he would tell their parents their daughters had enrolled in a new course which hadn’t ended yet. Sharma allegedly did not allow family members to visit the hostel, and would allow them to meet the women only at bus stops.

Eventually, the police statement said, the two women being sexually assaulted convinced Sharma to allow them to go home. When they reached their village, they asked their parents to contact Monica Purohit, whose school they studied in till Class 8 in Dhar. Monica Purohit and her husband Gyanendra also run an NGO for the deaf called Anand Service Society in Indore. The two women told Purohit everything that had happened in Bhopal, and asked her to help them, Kamla and Nutan.

That’s how the four women filed three FIRs—two in Indore and one in Dhar—in August 2018, with the help of Anand Service Society. Ashwini Sharma was arrested and is currently in jail. The police have filed a chargesheet and the case is ongoing.   

The financial condition of the four women has made it difficult for them to pursue the case; they often don’t have enough money to appear for a court hearing. Nutan says, “It’s very difficult for my family to make ends meet. But I have to continue my fight for justice.”

Monica Purohit from Anand Service Society says the NGO helps them with funds and legal help. “All these girls are from very poor backgrounds and can’t even afford the logistics required to appear in court. There should be some help from the government for them. Two of the girls were raped, the other two were molested. They haven’t even received compensation under the Nirbhaya Fund, though two are tribals who recently received some money from the tribal department.”

Purohit says as per the law, the women should receive ₹4 lakh under the Nirbhaya Fund. The Ministry for Women and Child Development is the nodal body for schemes under the Nirbhaya Fund, and also tracks the schemes in alliance with other ministries and departments.

Newslaundry spoke to JN Kansotiya, principal secretary of the Women and Child Development Department in Madhya Pradesh, to ask him about the non-payment of victim compensation to the four women under the Nirbhaya Fund. Kansotiya claimed the central victim compensation scheme comes under the Nirbhaya Fund but in Madhya Pradesh, “the home department is responsible to release the funds”.

Newslaundry contacted SN Mishra, principal secretary of the Home Department, Madhya Pradesh. He said, “I am not aware about this issue as I have recently joined. I am presently busy with the elections. But once I am done with election duty, I will find about this from my office and will try to address the problem.”

Savitri Thakur, the sitting BJP MP from Dhar—who is not contesting in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections—told Newslaundry: “I was not aware about the incident. I have never heard about these rapes. But it’s a very sad thing.” She added: “I have not received a ticket for the 2019 elections. So as an MP, I will not be able to help them. But I will try to get them help from the government.”

Nutan presently lives in Ujjain, and will cast her vote on May 19. She says, “I voted for the Congress in the Assembly elections but let’s see who I vote for this time. Maybe my vote doesn’t matter for political parties. There’s no one standing for us who says ‘I am there to solve your problems’.”

***

In 2010, Seema* was a deaf 13-year-old girl living in Sai Viklang Kendra, a government-funded home for orphans and the disabled in Hoshanabad, Madhya Pradesh. Communicating only in sign language, she moved into the orphanage in 2004 at the age of seven. In 2010, she was allegedly raped for the first time by the director of the orphanage, MK Awasthi.

Talking to Newslaundry in sign language with the help of an interpreter, Seema says, “After I was first raped by the director when I was about 13, it never stopped.” Seema and other former residents of the home tell this reporter that Awasthi and his nephew raped over 50 residents of Sai Viklang Kendra. The ordeal continued until September 2018.

On September 15, 2018, Seema and five other former residents—four male, two female—filed a complaint at TT Nagar Police Station in Bhopal, they first reported the matter to Social Justice and Disabled Persons Welfare Department and then filed a police complaint. Awasthi was arrested and a chargesheet has been filed against him. The residents of the home, ranging in age from six to 20, were sent back to their families, and the trial is ongoing. Some of the residents had no homes to return to and currently live in public spaces like railway platforms.

The children and former residents of the home are from impoverished backgrounds. Seema says she and the others who filed the FIR asked the Department of Social Justice last October to provide them with financial help to fight the case, but were told there is no provision for it. Newslaundry accessed the letter they received from the department which confirms this.

Seema alleges that during one court hearing, she was unable to give a statement to the court because the interpreter was changed. “The accused’s lawyers change our interpreters, saying they aren’t able to understand them. Then they try to bring in translators of their own choosing so they can misinterpret our statements.”

She says they can’t afford to go to court in Bhopal and Hoshangabad multiple times. “The family of the accused is trying to pressure us by contacting us. It feels like the authorities themselves want us to withdraw our case. If this condition continues, we may not be able to pursue the case further because of economic problems.”

According to her, about 7-8 other former residents of the home are paying out of their pockets to fight the case. Seema says: “The fees for interpreters is ₹600 per hour. The government should at least provide us with free interpreters.” It should be noted that the FIR, accessed by Newslaundry, doesn’t mention the number of people allegedly abused by Awasthi at Sai Viklang Kendra.

Twenty-one-year-old Mohan*, who is deaf and communicates in sign language, alleges that he was sexually abused by Awasthi. “He used to call us to the homeroom to give him a massage and rape us. We were beaten up whenever we protested against his advances.”

Mohan now lives in Ashok Nagar, and was in court on Monday, May 13, to appear for the hearing. He tells Newslaundry, “I am an orphan. I don’t have enough money to commute from Ashok Nagar to Bhopal for multiple hearings. If we don’t get financial support from the government, it will become difficult for us to win this case.”

Newslaundry reached out to Ashok Shah, principal secretary of the Social Justice and Disabled Persons Welfare Department, but he declined to comment on the issue, stating he was on leave.

Newslaundry contacted Alok Sanjar, the sitting BJP MP from Bhopal, and questioned him about these two incidents of rape and sexual assault, and how he handles issues related to the disabled. He said, “I personally take an interest in such cases and see whether the police is doing their job properly or not. Governments have to become more sensitive towards the issues of the disabled.”

Newslaundry also spoke to Uday Pratap Singh, the sitting BJP MP from Hoshangabad, who is also recontesting this year. He said, “We have regularly worked for disabled people. I have conducted various camps and have distributed vehicles to them. I also help social workers who work with deaf people. I have worked in the past and will continue to do so once election results are out on May 23.”

But neither Sanjar nor Singh were aware of the two incidents detailed above.

***

Gyanendra Purohit, who runs the Anand Service Society, says “rogue elements” in Indian society “take advantage” of the condition of the disabled. “In the last 15-20 years, about 1,000 disabled boys and girls have been sexually abused. About 10 per cent of the victims in the total rape cases in our country are deaf and communicate in sign language. Their families are unable to understand sign language, because of which 70 per cent of cases go unreported.”

It should be noted that the government maintains no separate record of this data for the disabled.

Purohit points out that India has no fast track courts for cases for the disabled. “They aren’t provided with the facility of free interpreters. The interpreters don’t get a reasonable amount from the government too, due to which they are disinterested in such cases.”

He says India’s judicial process is “not disabled friendly”. “Many deaf people don’t know sign language. In order to make their statements in court, we use a method of alternative augmentative communication. In such cases, opposition lawyers argue that the victim doesn’t know sign language and do everything to make sure the statement is not made in court.” Apart from free interpreters, he suggests travelling allowances for complainants. “Most of these victims are financially poor. It becomes difficult for them to afford the travel costs of appearing in court. Many cases are rejected because of such problems.”

In 2018, Varsha Dongre, 19, was crowned Deaf Miss India, and will represent India in the Deaf Miss World competition in Italy. She tells Newslaundry, “It’s high time the government takes steps to protect deaf and mute girls. I live in a city and have the privilege to be aware about things. But in villages, girls like me suffer a lot. They’re preyed on and sexually abused, since they’re thought to be easy targets who can’t reveal their ordeal to others.”

She emphasises that the government should provide people who are deaf with interpreters free of cost. “There should be a programme to provide sex education to deaf children so they’re aware of good touch and bad touch,” she adds.

***

A photo of Mahatma Gandhi hangs on the yellow wall of the room devoted to the Madhya Pradesh Helpline, housed in Tukoganj Police Station in Indore. An expert prepares the statement of 17-year-old Reema, who is deaf with intellectual disabilities.

Reema pensively looks at the photo of Gandhi. She was allegedly raped in Dewas on May 13 by her neighbour when her parents were out attending a wedding. Her father says the only benefit she receives from the government is a monthly pension of ₹150-200.

The room is peopled with seven or eight deaf volunteers, both men and women. They’ve just entered the police station after attending an awareness rally on voting in the Lok Sabha elections. As the expert explains Reema’s case, their faces are grim.

With the help of an interpreter, the volunteers tell Newslaundry they cast their votes in every election, but the government looks at them as “charity cases”. Atul Rathod, in his early 30s, says: “The election happens every five years, but nothing changes in our lives. The Congress, BJP—they’re all the same when it comes to disabled people. Instead of addressing our problems, the government considers us as charity cases. There’s this notion in our society that feeding the disabled will help someone get rid of their sins. We’re not considered equal citizens. This whole election thing is just a formality and nothing else.”

Nishad Gupte, a painter and artist, agrees. “We cast our votes every time. We think the government will bring some good policies for us, but we don’t get anything. Even for small benefits, we have to make 100 rounds to meet the government, and people there don’t understand us. Vote for the BJP or Congress, it doesn’t matter. All of them are useless.”

Ramesh Balwani, a volunteer in his 50s, recounts incidents where deaf people have been assaulted while conversing in sign language by others who didn’t understand them. Volunteer Sangeeta Gupte says, “The government should provide reservation to us in housing schemes and jobs to help us make a standing in life. Whatever we are today is on our own. But there should be something from the government too. We’re also citizens. We haven’t even been given driving licenses. These small things do affect our lives.”

(*Names changed to protect identities.)

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