Warders turned beast on this day 9 years ago

CHENNAI: It was exactly nine years ago - on October 29, 2001 - that Rita Mary was gangraped inside her cell at the Gingee sub-jail by a group of warders. When the heart wrenching story of the girl, then around 18 years of age, was brought to light by the media, it sent shockwaves across the State and elsewhere. The case also raised a plethora of questions on the safety of women in police stations and prisons.

For, the police too played a role in putting the girl from Thiruvotriyur in Chennai in such a vulnerable position. She was sold to a brothel owner, Shanti, in Tindivanam by a youth, who took her away from home with the promise of landing her a job. At the brothel, Rita met four young men - Lakshmanan, Anandan, Sadiq Basha and Mohan - who were moved by her story.

The youth approached the Tindivanam police, who, instead of taking action against the brothel owner, booked Rita under the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act and sent her to the Gingee jail. It was there that she was raped by warders on the night of October, 29, 2001.

Subsequently, a judicial magistrate in Tindivanam, R P Kalpana, found that Rita had suffered physically and mentally and sent her to Chennai for treatment. She was released on bail on November 5, 2001.

Though Rita's mother, Leelavathy, filed a complaint with the Gingee police station, the case was not properly investigated. In fact, the incident, with such murky undercurrents, would have been swept under the carpet but for the effort made by several social activists, human rights groups, women's organisations and advocates, who, besides raising a hue and cry, filed a case in the Madras High Court.

The court ordered an inquiry by G Thilagavathy, then Inspector General of Police, who submitted her report on December 4, 2001. In it, Thilakavathy accused some police officials and medical officers of committing lapses in discharging their duties.

The report also suggested payment of compensation to Rita and the four men, who had tried to rescue her from the brothel. Rita was subsequently paid a compensation of Rs 5 lakh by the government.

Fresh investigations were held after the court ordered the transfer of the case to the CBCID. A fast track court in Tindivanam sentenced four jail warders - Lazer, Jayapal, Anbalagan and Ramaswamy - to 10 years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on each of them in June 2006. Another five accused in the case - Shanti, Anandaraj, Anandan, Kavitha and Eswari - who were involved in the trafficking of Rita, were released by the court as they had spent more than four years in jail by then.

Subsequently, Rita turned over a new leaf, got out of the glare of media publicity and married a few years ago. Source

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