Chandigarh, March 25
Satya Devi is at a loss to recount the horrors of February 23. But she does so with courage: “I’ve paid the price of guarding my dignity. And I will not budge till my tormentors have been brought to justice,” says the 48-year-old widow and mother of two minors, allegedly gangraped by 10 men at Kala Singhya in Kapurthala.

A month after the brutalisation, three of the 10 accused are at large — the reason why Satya can’t return home to her village. She is hiding, fearing for her and her children’s lives.

“On the night of March 1 when I was recovering at the Civil Hospital, Kapurthala, they came to threaten me. I sought discharge a day later. Ever since, I have been on the run, with nowhere to go, no money to live on,” says Satya, a farm labourer, who has sought state protection from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to be able to live and testify in a case wherein she’s the sole witness.

Although raped in public knowledge (she was thrown from the terrace of her house with everyone watching, stripped naked and dragged for many metres before being molested), no one came to her help. Even the Kapurthala police is going slow on investigations.

DSP A.S. Pawar made a painfully indifferent statement when contacted. “Villagers say the rape never took place. Other reports say there were only two men. The victim can name 20 people. That doesn’t mean 20 people are involved,” he said, unmindful of the Supreme Court guidelines, which say a rape victim is the witness.

This police indifference goes back to November last when Satya had given two complaints at the Kala Singhya police post against six of the 10 accused, stating that they had tried to molest her. She told The Tribune today, “They have been after me for seven years, since my husband died. I gave many complaints but the police didn’t help.”

On February 20 this year, Satya gave another complaint, but to no avail. Three days later, she was victimised brutally. Not only was she allegedly raped, she was urinated upon, her hair were chopped off.

Still traumatised, Satya pleads for protection, saying: “They are furious at me because I have resisted their passes and have asked them to give accounts of panchayat funds. They want to cow me down,” she says, recounting the fateful day when 10 men allegedly barged into her house.

“I ran to the terrace but they threw me down. They dragged me, attacked me with scissors. The rest is a nightmare. Even the police came only when my 14-year-old son called them. They had not registered the FIR till the evening though the rape took place in the morning,” Satya breaks down, recalling other details that don’t figure in the FIR.

Pawar, however, says the police is investigating the matter: “It’s taking time because the officers have changed.” While the police takes time, Satya and her sons are on the run, waiting for justice, which the Supreme Court so urgently calls for in rape cases.