Scarred for life, says Wasim Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 18

Kept in custody by the police for 16 months before he got bail, Wasim Malik says he has been scarred for life. Arrested as an accused in a gang rape case, Malik has failed to mentally recover from the trauma and says that he may need help for it. While he wants to start earning his livelihood once again, he is yet to muster courage to face the world.

Speaking to Chandigarh Tribune, Malik said, “I cannot go out of the house yet, I will take some time to recover from the trauma of being in jail all this while”. Terming it the worst period of his life, Malik wishes that no one has to face such a situation. The police have now filed a discharge application to withdraw the case against Malik. It is pending with the Home Secretary and, after approval, will be filed in the court.

Malik was arrested by the police in December 2016 for the gang rape of a call centre employee in an auto-rickshaw as one of the two accused. However, the police have now arrested another two accused in the case. His innocence was proved to the police after the victim failed to identify him in court and his DNA samples turned out to be negative.

According to the police, he had been identified by the victim in the test identification parade (TIP). However, during the trial in a court on April 19, 2017, the victim did not identify Wasim.

The police have maintained that their leads led to Malik and that the victim had also identified him initially.

A wailing mother of Malik said her son was innocent and he was falsely implicated. “Our life has been spoilt for no fault of ours. My innocent son is in jail for so long,” she said. She went on to describe how she failed to find a groom for her daughter because people called her brother a rapist. Malik’s father said their son was innocent and that they knew it since day one. However, the loss of respect in society is irreparable, he added.

A call centre employee was gangraped while returning home from work by an auto-driver and his accomplice at knifepoint in a forest area in Sector 29 on December 12, 2016. She had hired the auto from the road separating Sector 34 and 21 on Dakshin Marg to go to Hallo Majra around 8 pm. The accused had taken the auto via a slip road in Sector 29 and stopped it near a forest area on the roadside. She was then taken into the forest area and raped by the accused.

What his parents say

Our life has been spoilt for no fault of ours. My innocent son is in jail for so long. I failed to find a groom for my daughter because people called her brother a rapist. — Mother

Our son is innocent and that we knew it since day one. However, the loss of respect in society is irreparable. — Father