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Regular-article-logo Wednesday, 08 May 2024

Fear & loathing in Nalanda

Rape survivor lives in terror

Ramashankar Patna Published 05.10.16, 12:00 AM
Sushil Kumar Modi in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, Oct. 4: "CM saheb, mera kya hoga? Meri ijjat ko tar tar karne wala jail se chhut gaya. Ab kaun bachayega mujhe aur mere parivar ko (Mr Chief Minister, what will happen to me? The one who ruined my life is out of jail. Who will protect my family and me?)."

This is what a minor girl from Nalanda, who was allegedly raped by RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Prasad in February this year, wrote in a WhatsApp message to a few journalists today.

The MLA from Nawada was released on Sunday after almost six months in jail because Patna High Court granted him bail on Friday. The state government filed a petition in the Supreme Court yesterday, seeking cancellation of his bail.

"I am scared and afraid for my family. What will happen to them? I am already dead after what happened to me. I have nothing more to lose," the girl wrote in Hindi in the WhatsApp message.

She said her family has been living in fear ever since Raj Ballabh, who enjoys immense political clout, was released on bail.

"We can all be eliminated as Raj Ballabh will leave no stone unturned to tamper with evidence. We have not slept since we got the news about his release," she said in the message, which was also forwarded to Nalanda superintendent of police (SP) Kumar Ashish.

Raj Ballabh had surrendered before a Nalanda court almost a month after his name figured in the case lodged with the Nalanda Women's police station in February this year.

Unlike his party colleague and convicted gangster Mohammad Shahabuddin, Prasad's release from Biharsharif jail on Sunday was a low-key affair.

"He (Raj Ballabh) left for his Nawada residence in a luxury car and avoided the media. He was accompanied by a few supporters," said a local confidante of Raj Ballabh.

In the WhatsApp message, the girl also wrote that Raj Ballabh "can kill my family members any time. Even the police are scared of him. I think the police will also side with him as he is a leader of the ruling party".

Nalanda SP Kumar Ashish said the security cover for the girl and her family has been beefed up in the wake of Raj Ballabh's release.

"I have personally spoken to the girl and her family members. I am in constant touch with them. There is nothing to worry," the SP told The Telegraph.

He said police would move court for cancellation of the MLA's bail if the girl's family was pressured either by the accused or his supporters to withdraw the case.

"So far, neither the victim nor her relatives has complained about anything of this sort to the police," he said.

The SP said 13 police personnel, including a woman constable, had been deployed at the girl's native village, around 12km northeast of Biharsharif, the district headquarters of Nalanda. The number of security guards was increased after the MLA's release on bail, he added.

Asked about the girl's message, Raj Ballabh said: "I have faith in the judiciary and hope the truth will come to the fore."

On the state government's decision to challenge his bail in the Supreme Court, he said the state government was doing its job and the judiciary was doing its: "The government is a system. It follows certain norms."

According to the police complaint in the case, a middle-aged woman, identified as Sulekha Devi, had taken the girl to an undisclosed location in Nawada and forced her to consume liquor after which she was raped by a man, later identified as Prasad, on February 6 this year.

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