Jungli Devi (Musahar, now deceased at 47 years) was married to Judan Sadai (55 years) at the age of 13 years.  She came to live with her husband in Haripur village, Pandaul block, Madhubani district, Bihar, and gave birth to five children: three daughters and two sons. The eldest two daughters, Buchia (25 years) and Sothai (22 years) are illiterate, married and live in other villages with their husbands and in-laws.  Jungli Devi’s sons Dinesh (12 years), Nunnu (10 years) and youngest daughter Gauri (7 years) are all unmarried; none of the children attend school.

In February 2002 Jungli Devi\\\'s husband\\\'s hand became swollen and he developed a terrible itch.  Due to his scratching, a sore developed and grew worse, to the point that he could no longer perform agricultural work.  Jungli Devi took her husband to several local doctors and spent what little money they had attempting to treat the sore, but it did not improve.  People in Jungli Devi’s community began to say that Judan Sadai had contracted leprosy. Unable to work, Judan Sadai remained at home and took care of the children.  Jungli Devi took on her husband’s former role and began earning for the family as a daily wage agricultural labourer.  She took on all manner of agricultural work, even work ordinarily performed only by men, e.g. using a spade to break mud in the field.  As the economic burden of feeding her entire family rested upon her alone, she worked extremely hard and took whatever work was available.

When no work was available in the village, Jungli Devi’s family went without food.  They ate only when she received wages for her labour. At one point in 2000 (Jungli Devi and her family cannot recall the season or exact date), Jungli Devi fell ill with an upset stomach. For three days at a stretch, she was unable to work in the fields and grew extremely weak.  As her children were starving, Jungli Devi approached a dominant caste man of her village, Mohan Yadav (BC Ahir, 50 years) and asked him to give her some grain so that her family might eat.  She promised to pay back the loan by working in his fields as soon as she recovered.  Mohan Yadav is a successful landowner in the village. He is married and has two grown sons. Mohan Yadav replied, “Whatever you need, be it grains or money, I am prepared to give.  But you must be prepared to do whatever work I ask you to do.”

Jungli Devi agreed, not understanding what Mohan Yadav had in mind.  She said that she could do domestic work as well as agricultural work, and agreed to his condition that she work for him only, and no other landowner. Then Mohan Yadav gave Jungli Devi 10 kg of rice and Rs.100/-, and she returned to her house relieved.  In the coming days, she recovered from her illness and began working for Mohan Yadav. For the next nine months, Jungli Devi worked in Mohan Yadav\\\'s house and fields.  She was given fair wages and the Yadav family had no complaints.  Gradually, though, Mohan Yadav began to demand more work from Jungli while paying her less wages. One day Jungli said to Mohan Yadav, “I work all day long and you are paying me less wages. How will my family and I manage with such a tiny amount?” Mohan Yadav laughed and replied, “I will take care of all your needs, but you will also have to fulfil my needs.” Saying this, he advanced on Jungli Devi and made clear his intention to have sex with her. Though she protested, Mohan Yadav raped Jungli Devi.  Afterwards, he paid her an extra sum of money. Under pressure and economically dependent, Jungli Devi gradually came to accept the arrangement.  Form that time onward, Mohan Yadav maintained a sexually exploitative relationship with Jungli Devi. She continued to work in his house and fields, and he demanded and took sex from her whenever he wanted.

In one instance, Jungli Devi was weeding Mohan Yadav’s sugarcane field.  Mohan came to the field, sat down and started talking to Jungli about her wages.  After a few words he said, “Actually, I didn’t come here to look at the field; I came here to have sex with you.”  Despite her discomfort, he put her on the ground in the field itself and had sex with her, stayed for a short while, and then returned to his house.  Jungli resumed her agricultural weeding. Another time, Jungli Devi was sitting in Mohan Yadav\\\'s cow shed, sorting and cleaning rice.  Mohan arrived, sat down and started talking to her, while Jungli simply kept working.  Then Mohan said, “I have a strong desire; I want to have sex with you now.  Besides, no one is around today, so we can do it here in the cow shed.”  He then satisfied himself with her in the cow shed and left. After some months, Jungli Devi suffered complications in her vagina.  Suffering from vaginal pain and swelling, she conveyed to Mohan Yadav that he should not have sex with her.  Mohan replied, “If you want wages, you must come to work.  And part of your work is fulfilling my desires.”

Whenever Jungli Devi expressed her disinterest in having sex with him, Mohan Yadav became very angry and verbally abused her. Frequently he said, “You cunt! You have sex with your husband, but you won’t let me have it with you?” After this, he usually forced himself on her, and Jungli Devi, due to her total economic dependence, yielded. As Jungli Devi and her family were economically dependent on the perpetrator Mohan Yadav, she never attempted to lodge a case against him.