The horrendous rape case of Anjana Kumari

By: Chandrashree Singh

A very shameful and satanic incident has been reported on the 4th January 2019 in Patwa Toli, Gaya, Bihar after a 16 year old girl went missing. Anjana Kumari, the victim, left her house at 6pm on 28th of December 2018, and did not return home. When the family of the deceased approached the Buniyadganj Police Station for help, they refused to file the complain until the localities put them under pressure to do so. On 6th January 2019, Anjana’s dead body was discovered mutilated and decapitated in a field near her house. Her hands and head lay bloody, they were brutally cut off of her body and signs of acid burns were found on her face.

The Police immediately arrested the victim’s father and his friend, the family was investigated and the SSP of the Buniyadganj Police Station, Rajiv Mishra declared it as an act of honour killing even before the Postmortem was held. Anjana’s sister revealed to the media that when the family was taken for investigation, the police pressurised them to say what they are asking them to say or they would beat them more and give them electric shocks till they lose their minds. To protect themselves they had no other option but to accept the false implication of the police declaring the case an ‘Honour Killing.’ The police created their own story and made the family confess it to close the matter fast. Statements from the Forensic Science Laboratory reveal that the minor was tortured and raped before she was beheaded and further mutilated. Before the Forensic reports arrived, the SSP told that the victim’s family did not file the complain until the news went viral on the social media and they were forced to report the matter and that no injuries were found on her body other than mutilation. It is a shame that the Police has put the family of the victim under extreme torture on false allegations misusing their power.

A mass of 10,000 people took to the streets on 9th January to candle march and 40,000 weavers went on a strike in Gaya demanding justice for the innocent. The Government should make a stricter response on the matter so that the criminals can be found and punished. Firm action shall be taken against the police officials who tortured the deceased’s family without any proper evidence and tried to give the case a quicker end by their false allegations.

Rape is one of the most common crime against women in India. According to the statistics, 92 women are raped in India everyday and one case is reported in every 22 minutes. Strict amendments were made in the constitution with the Criminal Law Amendment Act in 2013 following the Nirbhaya rape case reported on December 16th, 2012. But surprisingly not much has changed since then. An alarming number of 34,651 rape cases were reported in India in 2015 as per the records of NCRB. The graph does not go down. Strict action shall be taken by the Police to ensure the criminals involved in any abusive act towards women are punished.