3 years on, gang-rape victims of Muzaffarnagar riots still await justice

Amnesty International on Thursday organised a meet to address the Muzaffarnagar gang-rape case which took place in 2013. Seven gang-rape cases were filed after 2013 and the victims still await justice.

The meet was organised to highlight the details of the cases and struggles of the gang-rape survivors for justice. Seven Muslim women had come forward after the September 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar to report that they had been gang-raped by men from the Jat community.

"The Uttar Pradesh government has failed the seven women who have fought enormous odds to pursue their cases," said Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India. The survivors have faced targeted violence against their community, with extremely slow proceedings of their trials. The survivors alleged that they had not been protected from threats and harassment, which in some cases led them to retract their statements against the accused.

Six out of seven rape survivors had filed FIRs between July 2016 and January 2017. One of the survivors, namely Esha, died in August 2016 during childbirth and her evidence had not yet been recorded.

In three cases, the survivors identified and named the men who raped them in their FIR. However, continued threats forced them to retract their statements in court. "The accused have been constantly threatening to kill me and have been pressurising me to make my wife withdraw the FIR and retract her complaint of rape," said the husband of Chaman, the woman who was gang-raped in her house in Fugana on September 8, 2013.

The survivors, namely Aarzoo, Bano, Chaman, Dilnaz, Esha, Fatima and Ghazala have faced repeated harassment and threats to their life.

"It seems like the criminal justice of India is not approachable to rape victims. The delay in their cases is deliberate," said advocate Vrinda Grover. The suffering of the survivors has been endless and justice is what they deserve.