Shahjahanpur rape victim’s family alleges torture by SIT
File Photo of Swami Chinmayanand who has been accused of rape (IANS)
Lucknow: The family members of the Shahjahanpur rape survivor have filed a 15-page affidavit before the Allahabad High Court accusing the Special Investing Team (SIT) of physically abusing them.
The family has also expressed lack of faith and trust in the probe team.
The affidavit, filed by the brother of the rape survivor, alleges that the SIT is physically and mentally torturing them threatening to implicate all the family members in false cases.
The family went underground out of fear soon after the mother, father and brother were allegedly physically abused at the SIT office in Shahjahanpur on November 1.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the traumatized family in hiding, the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) state president Madhu Garg said that the family is extremely scared and demanding CRPF security as they have no faith in the police any longer.
A joint delegation of Uttar Pradesh women’s organizations will meet Governor Anandiben Patel and put before her the family’s demands, including adding Section 376 to the FIR and charge sheet.
The charter of demands includes removing Chinmayanand from the management of the large number of educational institutions.
Madhu Garg charged the SIT of working under the pressure of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government with the agenda of bailing out former Union Minister Chinmayanand.
The rape survivor’s family told Garg that they were called to the SIT camp office on November 1 at the Shahjahanpur Police Lines, where they were pressurized to accept that the entire family was part of the attempt at extortion.
When they refused they were verbally abused and threatened to be put behind bars.
On November 2 the rape survivor’s mother submitted an application to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and the Chief Justice Allahabad High Court citing details of their torture at the hands of the SIT head Inspector General Naveen Arora and other members.
In her letter, she said how her head was banged on the table by one Sharmila Sharma of the SIT and then she was slapped 25-30 times to pressurize asking her repeatedly to accept that the entire family was part of the extortion.
According to her letter, Arora said that she, her husband, son and even the 10-year-old daughter would be sent to jail and their other daughter (rape survivor) would “rot in jail” as he would see to it that she does not get bail.
“He repeatedly asked my husband about the glasses (in which the hidden camera taped the evidence against Chinmayanand). He said that its recovery would be shown with your son after which he would spend the rest of his life in jail,” the mother said in the letter.
The mother’s letter, as well as the son’s affidavit, includes annexures of photographs of the swollen face of the mother.
It is noteworthy that after a two-month probe, the SIT on Wednesday submitted a 20-page charge sheet in the alleged rape case against former BJP union minister Chinmayanand and the related extortion case against the rape survivor and her three associates before the Shahjahanpur Chief Judicial Magistrate Omvir Singh.
During the submission all the accused — Chinmayanand in the alleged rape case and the rape survivor and her associates, Sanjay, Sachin and Vikram in the extortion case — remained present in the Shahjahanpur court.
In a related development the bail application of the rape survivor which also came up for hearing was rejected and she was sent back to jail. It would come up for hearing next on November 29.
The SIT filed the 20 page charge sheets in both the cases. The case diary runs into 4,700 pages.
The SIT also submitted 79 evidences and told the court that it had cross examined 105 people during the investigations.
Published on: Nov 7, 2019 at 09:41 IST
IANS
