4 months after crime, girl is a bundle of trauma

The gang rape case is stuck in Rajasthan fast track court

Four months after she was abducted and raped by five men, the wounds of 11-year-old Sana (name changed) are yet to heal.

Sana hails from a poor Muslim family, which came to Jaipur a year ago from Darbhanga in Bihar. It makes a loving, doing odd jobs in and around the Sikar industrial area. In August, the girl was abducted by some men in a jeep from the Sikar bus stand, gang-raped and dumped in a village, 14 km away.

But the case is stuck in a fast track court because the police have not filed a challan though two of the accused have been arrested. Though doctors say the girl is recovering and that the wounds will heal gradually, her 16-year-old sister Parveen (name changed), who stays with her in the paediatric surgical ward of Jaipur’s J.K. Lone Hospital, does not see much hope. She has her reasons. When Sana was brought to the hospital, she had a vaginal tear so severe that it almost merged into her rectal region. Even after several surgeries, including anorectoplasty to repair the perineal region, Sama is yet to recover, says Parveen.

“She has changed from being a chirpy little girl to someone who is scared to trust anyone, even us at times. Sometimes, she suddenly wakes up in the middle of the night and starts crying — didi mujhe dar lag raha hai . How can she ever heal, how can our family ever heal from what has happened?”

The doctors also performed colostomy to help the girl pass faecal matter.

“When she was brought here, her vaginal tract was heavily contaminated and damaged so we had to perform a colostomy, or her wounds would never have healed,” a paediatric surgeon told this correspondent.

But even as physical treatment is working slowly, she has not received any counselling to deal with her trauma. Her mother, a domestic help, is worried. The girl has started hallucinating, she says. “She has started seeing things. Often, she points to empty spaces and says there is a big dog or a monster or something else.”

Meanwhile, a friend of the two arrested persons “keeps threatening us even now, but the police say they need Sana to identify the rapists in order to file a challan…,” says Parveen.

One of Sana’s sisters, after being repeatedly threatened by some bike-borne men, lodged a complaint at a police station at Sikar on Tuesday.

The family is grateful to the State government for immediately ordering a monetary assistance of Rs. 5,00,000 and bearing the cost of treatment. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also ordered that the case tried in a fast track court. “All this has been really helpful, but I wonder how she will ever come out of the shock and trauma…” says Parveen, looking at her sister, who sleeps on her bed, only to wake up in shock anytime.