If you’re Dalit and want to file a rape complaint in Gujarat, remember your caste certificate

On June 10, an 18-year-old Dalit woman from Bural village of Banaskantha district, was allegedly raped by a 25-year-old man from the dominant Darbar community. According to the family of the woman, police officials initially asked them to bring a caste certificate and proof of her age before registering the girl’s complaint. They had to travel 25 kilometres back to their home to get these documents.

“She had gone to the nearby field to relieve herself around noon. This is when [he] raped her,” MK Parmar, the complainant’s lawyer, told Newslaundry. “When her father heard her cries, he came running to the spot. By then, the accused had run away.” The complainant and her father, then, left for Deesa Rural police station, which is 25 kilometres away from their village, at around 2 pm. Despite repeated requests, the police officials at the station refused to register a first information report (FIR). They were asked to go to the circle police chowki — three km away from the station. Here, they met Police Inspector DD Gohil. Parmar said that instead of filing an FIR, Gohil insisted they first produce a caste and age certificate. “I told him that this is a case of rape and he must register the FIR. But he didn’t listen,” he said. They had to return home to collect these documents and return to the police station. By then, it was 8 pm. Even then, the FIR was registered under the section pertaining to sexual abuse (IPC 354) and not rape. According to the FIR accessed by Newslaundry, it was registered at 8.30 in the evening and section 354, 506 (2) of IPC was slapped along with section 3 (1) RSW (1),  3(2) (5A) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015.

More worryingly, the family alleges that before registering the FIR, the complainant was taken to a room by a woman police official and was threatened.

“She was afraid and so couldn’t give her statement properly. Also, when we raised alarm at the sections they had registered against the accused, the police misbehaved with me too,” Parmar said.

It is important to note that while the police were sending the family on a circuitous route, the woman was not given any medical assistance. Banaskantha Superintendent of Police Neeraj Badgujar admitted that while there were signs of external injuries, she was examined by a doctor. “She was bitten on the cheek and had an injury on her hand…we did not examine her for rape as she never told us she was raped,” he said.

According to the police, the accused was taken into judicial custody the night of June 10 itself. But when asked why the station officials displayed such insensitivity towards the complainant, we were told that a separate inquiry might be initiated soon.

Hetal Patel, Deputy SP of SC/ST Cell, told Newslaundry, “The SP has already asked to look into the CCTV footage of the day and look into claims of delay in registering the FIR.”

On June 13, a memorandum by Dalit activists along with the family of the complainant was submitted to district collector Dileep Rana. They demanded that Section 376 (rape) be slapped against the accused and action be taken against the officials who misbehaved with the complainant.

Seven days later, on June 20, Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, with Patidar leaders Reshma Patel and Chirag Patel, held a press conference in Ahmedabad demanding that rape charges be lodged against the accused, a compensation of Rs 20 lakh be given to the victim and action be taken against the police officials. Mevani threatened to block the highway and the Banas river bridge if the administration did not act by June 26.

Overnight, the police got into action mode. On June 21, the charges against the accused in the FIR were changed to rape and the complainant’s statement under section 164(a) (medical examination of the victim of rape) was registered in court on June 22.

DSP Hetal Patel said, “The accused was arrested on June 10, and I had visited the complainant’s house on June 11 to take her statement.” She added that the police never had a problem with pressing rape charges against the accused as he was already in judicial custody. However, according to Patil, in both the medical examinations conducted on June 10 and on June 20 — rape was not established.

Mevani emphasised the role caste had to play in this case, “the accused is a Darbar and the police inspector is also a Darbar.”

“How can a rape victim be asked to go away from the police station and meet the police inspector on the highway?” and “asking for the caste certificate – aap Dalit ho? Apke sath balatkar hua? Caste certificate lekar aao (you are Dalit and have been raped? Bring your caste certificate first.) This is obnoxious. This shows the inclination on the part of the police to undermine the case of [caste] atrocity,” Mevani said.

That it should have come to this is puzzling. According to a 2013 ruling, as per Article 142 of the Constitution, in the event of a rape complaint, the Investigation Officer should immediately take steps to record the statement of the complainant with a magistrate. And yet, on June 10, the police seemed to have done their best to avoid filing charges of rape, despite visible injuries on the body of the complainant.

Add to this, the fact that the family of the woman was not offered any protection despite the accused belonging to a dominant caste. According to the complainant’s version of events, mere acknowledgement of the crime itself took 75 kilometres of running around, a press conference in Ahmedabad and the threat of blocking an arterial road for the police to take cognisance.

The author can be contacted on Twitter @tweets_amit.