Rape victim detained in police custody
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, December 30 2012: In a rare case of its kind, a rape victim was produced before the court and made to confront directly with the accused, defying all set norms to be carried out.

It is said that this was the first time in the history of Indian judicial system where a rape victim was produced before the court and made to confront the accused directly.

The incident took place yesterday at the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thoubal.

A newlywed housewife, who was reportedly raped by an elderly neighboring man at Wangjing under Thoubal district was called by the Thoubal Police yesterday at 12 noon.

Accordingly, the victim, along with her husband, aunt and some relatives went to the Police Station.

From there she was directly taken to the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thoubal, recalled the husband to media persons at Manipur Press Club here today.

The husband stated the police personnel first took his wife to the police station for interrogation and was later produced before the court yesterday.

None of the family members including himself were allowed by the police to accompany the victim to the court where the traumatized victim was made to confront directly with the accused, the husband informed, adding that his wife has been in a trauma since the incident and has not taken any food.

So, she is being administered dextrose injection.

After the trial, the victim was further taken into police remand for five days.

The family members of the victim did not get the opportunity to meet the victim yesterday, he lamented.

After the victim was brought back to the police station, she told the family members that she did not answer any question raised by the judges in the court fearing that anything could happen to her if she uttered a word, said the husband.

Sorokhaibam Thoibi, women activist, who was also present during the press conference, stated that the procedures carried out to a rape victim who is in a state of trauma by the Thoubal Police and the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thoubal is highly condemnable and unfortunate.

There is no reason as to why the victim should be produced before the court and placed in police custody.

The victim is being harassed all the more by the police and the CJM.

The police and the CJM should clarify the reasons for keeping the rape victim in police custody failing which intense agitation would taken up, he warned.

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