Eight years after being raped and giving birth to a child, life turned around for Rinki Devi when accused Nand Kishore Yadav married her as per Hindu customs on Sunday.
Her son, whom she had named Karn after the Mahabharata character Karna — solar deity Surya’s son born to Kunti before she married Pandu — will finally have a name that hints at Nand Kishore Yadav being his father. Yadav accepted Rinki as his wife and Karn as his own son at the Durga temple here on Sunday evening.
Rinki was the only child of her parents. Her father Ramesh Paswan, a leper, used to beg and her mother, Shanti Devi, was a daily labourer at a goshala (cowshed) nearby.
Sometime in November 2005, Rinki, then 13-14, was filling in for her mother who was ill when she raped in a nearby cowshed by two youths, Nand Kishore Yadav and Ram Narain Yadav, both 25. An FIR was lodged at Haraiya outpost under Raxaul police station, in December 2005, accusing the two daily labourers of rape.
Rinki’s intention then was to punish those who ruined her life forever. She gave birth to a son. Unable to cope with their misfortunes, her leper father died soon after.
In June 2012, blood samples of Karn, Rinki and Nand Kishore Yadav were collected and sent for DNA test.
But after over seven years, Rinki was fed up of running from pillar to post for justice. Earlier in January, she had told The Telegraph: “It becomes very painful for me when Karn calls out to his father whenever he passes by our house and Nand Kishore does not pay any attention. I am determined to get justice and marry the man who is the father of my son.”
She had said also that she and her son would have got justice had there been such a thing called justice and law. Her mother Shanti Devi had then said that they were unaware about the results of the DNA test. Haraiya outpost SHO Sunil Kumar had said, “I’ve been transferred here only recently but will try to expedite court proceedings to award justice to this unfortunate mother.”
On Sunday, Nand Kishore Yadav told The Telegraph: “I confess to my faults and have resolved to repent through this unification. We have also decided to compromise in the case pending before a court in Motihari. My son’s name will not remain Karn any more”.
In all these years, Rinki earned her livelihood by working with the Khadi weaving unit of Little Flower Leprosy Centre, Raxaul. Her mother still works with the Little Flower Goshala.