Rape survivor comes forward to fight for justice

Hyderabad: The horror rape story which has shocked the conscience of the people of Hyderabad has now been unfolded with many harsh facts coming to light as the girl who suffered the ordeal of 17 months of rape and bondage has decided to go public with her fight against whole system, who are trying to bury her tribulation terming it a love affair gone awry.

20 year old Seher Azad (name changed) a resident of old city was a student of 3rd year polytechnic TRR College at the outskirts of city, the canteen owner of the college, 33 year old Satya Prakash Singh a native of Bihar, had allegedly kidnapped her from the college premises and raped her for almost 17 months before the brave girl managed to escape from the clutches of rapist. But yesterday when the girl along with her mother and Majlis Bacho Tehreek leader Amjedullah Khan filed written complaint at Santoshnagar police station it turned out to be an open dossier reflecting hideous nature of rapist and police laxity complied with prejudice in her rape case. Sheher who lost her father and lives with his mother and younger brother in her written complaint to police, copy of which is with TCN, stated details of getting trapped by Satya Prakash Singh, “(I) use to visit the College Canteen for lunch during college days along with my friends and had met the canteen owner Mr. Satya Prakash Singh many times at the canteen. On 3rd April 2012 when I was feeling unwell I went to the canteen to take some fruit juice, when I ask for some juice from the said owner he gave me a drink inquiring about my health. After taking juice I felt dizziness and felt unconscious. When I gained conscious I found myself in a dark room with all my clothes torn.” And then her ordeal of 17 months of continues as rape and bondage began, “I tried to shout for help, suddenly Mr. Satya Prakash tied my hands and beat me very badly with a belt and hands and raped me which resulted in bleeding from my private parts. As it was nearly dark he locked me up in a room and went away. Next day he came again with some food packets and asked me to eat, when I refused to eat and started shouting he beat me again and forced me to eat. After some time he raped me again. The incident of keeping me in locked and raping continued for nearly one month.” Owner of the flats knew about rape bondage but did nothing Seher Azad in her complaint made revelation that owner of the flat which was situated on Almasguda knew what was going on but instead of calling the police he asked Satya Prakash to shift her to another flat, “When the house Owner suspected his (satya parakash) activities asked him to vacate the house. The said house was a flat situated at Almasguda, Meerpet, Ranga Reddy Dist. When I was shouting loud the said house owner asked him to vacate the flat.” Than Satya Prakash lured Seher for changing the flat by giving false promise of taking back to her home, “One day he came early morning around 3:00 AM and promised me that he will leave me near my house and asked me to accompany him. He took me in a Tata Sumo Vehicle (Blue Color) Number AP11 G 9108. After drive of an hour he again took me forcibly to another flat at Gayatri Nagar and in spite of my protest and shouting locked me with a help of woman who I can identify by seeing.” In the next flat he continued to rape her, and according to her complaint, “In the said flat also he raped me daily and used to abuse me. He used to say that I am the fifth girl who he has raped and killed and thrown in a river. He claimed that his father is former Defense Employee and his brother is a Criminal Lawyer who will save him from getting into Police net.” Victim with her mother and MBT leader Amjedullah Khan at Police station Police turned the blind eye inspite of getting a big lead In a shocking revelation Ms. Seher Azad stated that she could have been saved given an active intervention of police, which neglected a big lead that is call from the rapist mobile to her family describing her situation, “It was around May 2012 after taking too much of alcohol he raped me and slept. As my hands were open I took his phone and called my mother and told the incident of me being tortured. My brother who had given a complaint of missing person in Police Santosh Nagar Crime No: 76/2012 went and informed the Police about the call.” The ordeal of Seher could have ended on the same day when her brother approached the police to inform about the call, but sadly it didn’t. Mr. Amjedullah Khan who accompanied Seher Mubeen to Santosh Nagar police station told TCN that Inspector informed him that after tracking the mobile number they found it to be from a women from Mahbubnagar district, when they interrogated the women they found that women used to run a canteen business with Satya Prakash singh in the past and allotted her SIM to him. Getting crucial lead and big circumstantial evidence police called Satya Prakash to station and interrogated him and according to Mr. Amjedullah Khan he was kept in two days custody, but inspector told them that Satya Prakash Singh confessed it to be his mobile number but claimed it was lost few months back and refused any knowledge about the missing girl, so police simply let him off. Mr. Amjedullah Khan alleged that police let off Satya Prakash Singh even after such a crucial lead because of the intervention of senior TDP politician son in whose college Satya Prakash was running the canteen. Ms. Seher’s complaint to the police corroborate with the allegation of Mr. Khan, when Satya Prakash was let off by the police first thing he did was to vent all his anger on girl revealing his strong political connections, “He didn’t came to the room for nearly for 5 days. The said lady who was kept to check me used to give me food and water from the window. I was kept locked. Suddenly on 6th Day Satya Prakash Singh came in an drunken position and bet me very badly abused me and my mother and said why did I call from his mobile phone through which the police started suspecting him. After beating me badly he raped me again and said that with the intervention from the college owner Mr. Teegala Krishna Reddy (former Mayor) & TDP Leader and his Son (Owner of TRR College) he was set free by the Santosh Nagar police.” Family of rapist complicit in the crime Ms. Seher Azad, in her complaint revealed that family of Satya Prakash who lives in Bihar was aware and complicit in the crime even visited her in her virtual jail, “One day he came along with some of his family members including his father, wife and his brother and asked me to meet them. Before meeting them he forced me to have a Tilak on my head. He presented me to the family member as Vanita and told them as he is childless (from his previous) marriage, he wanted to marry me. I started crying in front of his father Bhishmukh Prakash Singh (Rt. Defense Employee), Brother Mr. Jayparakash Singh (Advocate) and his wife (who then left the room after listening to the proposal of second marriage). I told them that I am a Muslim Girl and the Satya Prakash has kidnapped me and is raping me since last 4 months. After listening to me they started laughing and said that all the family supports Satya Prakash. Seeing me crying and shouting his father left the room keeping me with his Advocate brother. His Advocate brother than beaten me up with a slipper and he also tried to rape me. By their beating I felt unconscious. His brother threatened me that they will kill my brother and my mother if they do not withdraw their complaint from Santosh Nagar police station.” Got pregnant than forced to abort The most appalling part of her complaint Ms. Seher stated that due to the continues forced sex she got pregnant and was illegally made to abort, but even after this the humiliation continued, “After some months he shifted me to a new location (3rd location) where I fell ill and was vomiting heavily. He brought some lady to check me and the lady said that I have got pregnant. I started crying and asked him to leave me. Promising that he will leave me after abortion he took me to a Nursing home and asked a lady Doctor for abortion. I protested with the said Lady Doctor and the staff for carrying the abortion. The said lady Doctor did an abortion on me. I was bleeding heavily. He (again) took me to the flat. He used to harass me to satisfy him inspite of me getting aborted. He forced me to do oral sex and also forced to drink alcohol.” Some Police officers took bribe and participated in her humiliation Some police officers according to Ms. Seher also abetted Satya Prakash in his heinous crimes, she wrote in her complaint, “On one day while I was crying and shouting some of the neighbors called police and informed about me. After some time three police men came and I told everything that I am being kept illegally and being raped since many months. The Police took Satya Prakash along with him and after some hours they came back. I saw all the Police men and Satya Prakash in a drunken position. All the Police men entered and started passing comments and asked Satya Prakash to have a good rape and they left. The Police men while going away took some money from Satya Prakash. Before going the said three Police men touched my private parts and passed bad comments against me.” The escape Detailing her escape from the clutches of Satya Prakash she stated, “On 4th Sep 2013 around 1:00 PM as usual he came to the flat fully drunk with some food packets. After taking lunch he raped me again and felt slept. As the door was kept open I ran from his clutches and reached my home at 4:30 PM.” The present position of her case After the new facts been revealed by her, Santosh Nagar police amended the earlier missing complaint and changed it to rape case by inserting stern sections of IPC like 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her for marriage), 376 (rape), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Fearing communal fall out Satya Prakash Singh was arrested immediately by the police and is currently lodged in Chanchalguda jail. But Mr. Amjedullah Khan alleged that police is not serious to provide justice to Seher Azad and to take this case to a logical conclusion, “It has been more than a week that girl is back at her home but police till now didn’t record her statement. After protest they asked her to visit them again on Monday where a women constable will be recording her statement. Till now no medical checkup has been done on the girl, police is still maintaining that she eloped with that man who raped her for 17 months. Instead of counseling the rape victim, police officers are asking her perverse questions raising figures on her modesty.” Mr. Amjedullah Khan even alleged that local police is intimidating girl’s family to withdraw her complaint. Mr. Khan said he along with girl’s family is planning to file another complaint with Commissioner of Police, Minorities commission or Human rights commission as they are not expecting any justice from the local police. He warned that issue is carrying lot of media attention, now if any untoward tensions arises local police should be held responsible for their inaction. Now with her future and life being ruined, Ms. Seher Azad is expecting at least one thing from society, that is justice. In her complaint she requested to the police to act against every individual who was complicit with Satya Prakash and abetted him the crime, “I request you to take necessary action against Mr. Satya Prakash, his father, his brother, his wife, the three flat owners where I was kept Illegal, tortured and raped continuously. The owner of TRR College who helped Mr. Satya Prakash when Santosh Nagar Police caught him. The Nursing Home officials and the lady Doctor where the abortion was done, and the three Policemen who also tried to molest me (in the third flat).” (TCN appeal: Although while filing complaint to demand justice rape survivor revealed her real name, but to maintain her anonymity TCN has used a pseudo name TCN also condemns the insensitivity of social media users who are using her name in their posts purportedly to demand justice, trying to make it viral by using hash-tag.) Source: TCN