This is why women don’t go to court against abusers

 

She put on her jogging shoes, checked for her water bottle, opened the hostel gate and then went on her regular morning jog. Shweta (name changed) loves exercising in the morning air and at 6am when the streets of Bengaluru are relatively empty, what more can you ask for. A lot of people near Ramaiah are out jogging, going for their morning walk, walking their dogs, going to get milk and newspapers, so this was a pretty safe time for her to venture out.

 

This was her routine, however, one fateful morning on January 11 2013, Shweta’s healthy habit became a nightmare for her. On that day, at 6am, when she returned from her morning jog close to Ramaiah, she found the gates to her college hostel locked, probably the watchman may have gone on some errand (later they came to know he was sleeping). College would soon start and she did not want to be late so she decided to climb over the gates.

 

Climbing over gates, something we did as kids, didn’t we? That used to be fun. Shweta did not give it another thought and she started her climb. Suddenly she heard a car screech behind her, she did not notice anything wrong but suddenly she felt several hands on her, pulling her roughly off the gate.

 

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Now, who could that be? Why was she being pulled by these unknown men? Shweta screamed for help, luckily some hostel inmates heard her cry and they rushed to her rescue. These unidentified drunk hooligans had meanwhile managed to almost pull her into that waiting car but she lashed out with all her strength and came and held the hostel gate’s bars for dear life. The drunkards flustered by the attention their kidnapping attempt caused, immediately took off. A passing PCR van ignored the commotion.

 

The police were called, and like all of us in our youthful enthusiasm and with righteous anger bubbling inside, Shweta and her friends decided to pursue a case against the men who tried to abduct her. At that time she thought justice would be on her side, but no...2013 passed and months grew into years. The case was still languishing in some forgotten corner of a lawyer’s office.

 

The accused men were out on bail, leading normal lives, probably kidnapping more women, abusing other young girls, who knows? The drunkards, it was later found, were from influential families in Bengaluru and on that day, a search of their car revealed a whole range of weapons – sharp and deadly - the kind that are carried by hardcore street hooligans.

 

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Shweta and her friends meanwhile, finished college and had to move out of the city to places where their job took them. The case hung over her like a stubborn shadow. Soon, it was time for Shweta to get married and call it coincidence or the workings of fate, she received a call from the police on February 25, 2016, demanding that she and friends be present in court on such and such date for a hearing on the case. It was inconvenient, it involved begging and pleading her friends to come to Bengaluru, it involved taking leave from work and yet they all made it.

 

When the day came, Shweta and her friends waited for the court to start the proceedings, but surprisingly one of the accused was absent. This process carried on and on for months, Shweta’s in-laws outright denied to accompany her to the court or have anything to do with it since ‘they did not want to get involved in matters of the court’; her friends were now not so helpful at being inconvenienced so often, having to come all the way to Bengaluru only for this case which seemed to be going nowhere.

 

There was no way out. What would Shweta concentrate on? Her marriage or the court? Why was she being tortured over the abuse done to her? No answers.

 

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Then the public prosecutor suggested, “If you want to get rid of this case, next time you come to court, say you don’t know these men. Simple. Case dismissed.”

 

That is exactly what Shweta did the next time she went to court. Her cry for justice ignored and denied. The law was there, but to help the influential and no support from anyone whatsoever.  

 

This is why women don’t go to court and even if they do, police and the legal system make it difficult for anyone to get justice. The accused pay their way out, while the victim is left waiting in the corridors of the court. Only a Nirbhaya can shock the legal system into fast tracking their decisions.

 

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